Generating Academic Capital Through Travel: Academic Mothers Navigating the Ideal of Mobility

Travel contributes to the accumulation of academic capital, specifically the social and symbolic capital valued in academic contexts, which in turn supports career success. The expectations of mobility associated with academic travel are experienced differently by academic mothers who also face expectations related to norms for ideal motherhood. The norms of the ideal mobile academic and the ideal mother come into conflict most clearly in terms of expectations for travel. Many academic mothers manage this tension by limiting their travel, even though they recognize its importance to their careers. Limiting travel limits mothers' accumulation of capital, restricting or delaying academic career success and impacting that of their graduate students. Academic mothers’ limited academic travel contributes to the reproduction of inequality in academia and a failure to update the norm of the mobile unencumbered academic. A refined understanding of academic travel and a review of university structures, policies and norms around travel and career supports for women academics are recommended to address these challenges.