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Gender, Family and Caregiving Leave, and Advancement in Academic Science: Effects across the Life Course

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  • Mary Frank Fox

    (School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA)

  • Monica Gaughan

    (School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA)

Abstract

Family and caregiving leave are increasingly important dimensions for careers in academic science, and for vital, sustainable institutional structures. These forms of leave are intended to support equity, and particularly gender equity. A key question is how the actual use of leave affects critical milestones of advancement for women—compared to men—in (1) time to tenure and (2) the odds of promotion to full professor. We address this question with descriptive statistics and event history analyses, based on responses to a survey of 3688 US faculty members in 4 scientific fields within a range of Carnegie institutional types. We find that leave that stops the tenure clock extends time to tenure for both men and women—the effect is gender neutral. Promotion to full professor is another matter. Being a woman has a strong negative effect on the likelihood of promotion to full professor, and women are especially disadvantaged in promotion when they used tenure leave years earlier. These findings have implications for a life-course perspective on gender and advancement in academic science, the roles of caretaking and leave, and the intended and unintended consequences of leave policies for equitable and sustainable university systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Mary Frank Fox & Monica Gaughan, 2021. "Gender, Family and Caregiving Leave, and Advancement in Academic Science: Effects across the Life Course," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-19, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:12:p:6820-:d:576113
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Robyn Marschke & Sandra Laursen & Joyce McCarl Nielsen & Patricia Rankin, 2007. "Demographic Inertia Revisited: An Immodest Proposal to Achieve Equitable Gender Representation among Faculty in Higher Education," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 78(1), pages 1-26, January.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Sandra L. Hanson & Enrique S. Pumar, 2022. "Moving toward Sustainability: Rethinking Gender Structures in Education and Occupation Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-3, February.

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