“Navigating” through a scientific career: A question of private and professional configurational supports

Abstract

Men and women remain in unequal positions in coping with their scientific and academic careers. Several of the mechanisms dissuading or preventing women from pursuing scientific careers have already been described in the literature: women getting stuck with paltry, undervalued tasks, thus manufacturing a “sticky floor”; structuring the scientific field around a masculine habitus; and the “Matilda” effect for women. An additional cause of these inequalities is observed in the relationship between the private and professional aspects of the individuals’ lives. The university transmits a “gendered order” in its organizational structures, principles, customs and habits, in short in the practice of scientific work. That is due in particular to the ancient structuring of the university around a male figure: the “university professor” or “scientist” entirely invested in his work, freed from domestic necessities by an invisible carer (he or she who ‘cares’ for him), so he can devote himself to science. Hence the university was constructed on a “greedy” model expecting a total, voluntary and impassioned engagement in work, coupled with a model of work/family dissociation. Based on a research programme dealing with post-doctoral researchers and recently tenured researchers*, this article analyses the role of their private life and how it relates to the professional sphere in their experience of scientific work. In this respect, it provides some explanatory elements on both the greater vulnerability of women-mothers in the university game and on the configurational supports (configurations of professional life and private life) needed to offset that vulnerability.

Sticky steps and the gender gap: how thoughtful practices could help keep caregivers in science

“…Personal ‘case studies’ investigations [ 14 ] show that the careers of mothers in precarious times, such as e.g. postdoctoral periods, can particularly benefit from a combination of structured and personal support and understanding and reduced focus on traditional metrics of excellence (see also [ 35 ]). For example, there should be more structures that facilitate re-entrance into science at later career points, with the ultimate goal of keeping caregivers who want senior-level scientific careers in academia.…”

“Having a family is the new normal”: Parenting in neoliberal academia during the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…The negative impact of the academia's organizational gendered norms is totally disregarded and, in some cases, work-life balance policies that take into consideration the demands of parenthood are seen as preferential treatment (Harris et al, 2019;Powell et al, 2018). It is not surprising that parenthood is seen as one of the main obstacles in academic career path (Fusulier et al, 2017).…”

“…The disruption brought by the health crisis to the lives of academic mothers has been widely documented (Boncori, 2020 ; Crabtree et al., 2020 ; Crook, 2020 ; Guy & Arthur, 2020 ; Minello et al., 2021 ). In this unprecedented situation, with schools and childcare facilities closing and social distance measures being enforced, the structured systems that enable women to juggle motherhood and academic demands have disappeared (Fodor et al., 2021 ).…”

“…In addition, the gendered nature of the academic institutions (Acker, 1990), built upon a model of dissociation of work/family, penalizes those who have caring responsibilities (Fusulier et al, 2017). Hence, as academic mothers do not match the disembodied "ideal worker" without personal constrains and who pursues a linear career (Acker, 1990), they face more obstacles in their career progression than their peers who are men (Fusulier et al, 2017). For such mothers, the demands of parenting limit the time they can devote to their academic duties.…”

Career Networks in Shock: An Agenda for in-COVID/Post-COVID Career-Related Social Capital

“…In line with conservation of resources theory, nonoccupational contacts, such as family members, could be an important resource for managing stress and providing stability in uncertain times. Using the terms of Fusulier et al [40], this could be described as searching for the social configurations that provide the necessary stability to make an academic career.…”