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Academic mothers, professional identity and COVID‐19: Feminist reflections on career cycles, progression and practice

Author

Listed:
  • Dorothea Bowyer
  • Milissa Deitz
  • Anne Jamison
  • Chloe E. Taylor
  • Erika Gyengesi
  • Jaime Ross
  • Hollie Hammond
  • Anita Eseosa Ogbeide
  • Tinashe Dune

Abstract

Based on a collection of auto‐ethnographic narratives that reflect our experiences as academic mothers at an Australian university, this paper seeks to illustrate the impact of COVID‐19 on our career cycles in order to explore alternative feminist models of progression and practice in Higher Education. Collectively, we span multiple disciplines, parenting profiles, and racial/ethnic backgrounds. Our narratives (initiated in 2019) explicate four focal points in our careers as a foundation for analyzing self‐definitions of professional identity: pre‐ and post‐maternity career break; and pre‐ and post‐COVID‐19 career. We have modeled this research on a collective feminist research practice that is generative and empowering in terms of self‐reflective models of collaborative research. Considering this practice and these narratives, we argue for a de‐centering of masculinized career cycle patterns and progression pathways both now and beyond COVID‐19. This represents both a challenge to neo‐liberal norms of academic productivity, as well as a call to radically enhance institutional gender equality policies and practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Dorothea Bowyer & Milissa Deitz & Anne Jamison & Chloe E. Taylor & Erika Gyengesi & Jaime Ross & Hollie Hammond & Anita Eseosa Ogbeide & Tinashe Dune, 2022. "Academic mothers, professional identity and COVID‐19: Feminist reflections on career cycles, progression and practice," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 309-341, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:29:y:2022:i:1:p:309-341
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12750
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Tinashe Moira Dune, 2014. "Conceptualizing Sex with Cerebral Palsy: A Phenomenological Exploration of Private Constructions of Sexuality Using Sexual Script Theory," International Journal of Social Science Studies, Redfame publishing, vol. 2(2), pages 20-40, April.
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    5. Misty L. Heggeness, 2020. "Estimating the immediate impact of the COVID-19 shock on parental attachment to the labor market and the double bind of mothers," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 1053-1078, December.
    6. Misty Heggeness, 2020. "Why Is Mommy So Stressed? Estimating the Immediate Impact of the COVID-19 Shock on Parental Attachment to the Labor Market and the Double Bind of Mothers," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 33, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    7. Junming Huang & Alexander J. Gates & Roberta Sinatra & Albert-László Barabási, 2020. "Historical comparison of gender inequality in scientific careers across countries and disciplines," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(9), pages 4609-4616, March.
    8. Batsheva Guy & Brittany Arthur, 2020. "Academic motherhood during COVID‐19: Navigating our dual roles as educators and mothers," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(5), pages 887-899, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. M. Winter, 2023. "Carrie's first academic conference—On the possibilities of feminist storytelling and fiction in management," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(6), pages 2119-2129, November.

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