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Science and the Life/Work Balance

Science and the Life/Work Balance. Shelley Adamo Dalhousie University. Women Faculty in Biology. CAUT 2009. Average Salary in Biology in Canada. CAUT 2009. Leaks in the Academic Pipeline. US Faculty, Mason & Goulden, 2003. Women Faculty – Job or Family?. Percentage.

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Science and the Life/Work Balance

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  1. Science and the Life/Work Balance Shelley Adamo Dalhousie University

  2. Women Faculty in Biology CAUT 2009

  3. Average Salary in Biology in Canada CAUT 2009

  4. Leaks in the Academic Pipeline US Faculty, Mason & Goulden, 2003

  5. Women Faculty – Job or Family? Percentage Wolfinger et al. 2008

  6. Women faculty have fewer children than male faculty “Rather than blatant discrimination against women, it is the long work hours and the required travel, precisely at the time when most women with advanced degrees have children and begin families, that force them to leave the fast-track professions” (Mason and Goulden, 2004)

  7. Who Gets Tenure? Men Women US Faculty, Mason & Goulden, 2003

  8. Wolfinger et al., 2008 show that family and children account for the lower rate at which women obtain tenure-track jobs. Marriage also presents a barrier to securing tenure-track positions

  9. Stress, Family Life and Academia • CAUT study • Winner of the “Most Stressed Academic Award” are women in tenure-track • Stressed due to attempts to balance work with family commitments • Full professors least stressed

  10. Women, Children and Science • “…The tenure system was set up for male faculty, whose wives provided all the homemaking so their husbands could devote their energies solely to academic career advancement” (Bronstein, Rothblum and Solomon, 1993). • Married women are less mobile than single women. Being less mobile is detrimental to an academic career. Mobile faculty are more likely to hold a tenure-track position and hold higher academic rank. (Trower, 2001).

  11. Men, Children and Science • Having children does not reduce a man’s competitiveness compared with childless men. Same percentage find a tenure track position and receive tenure. • For men, whether or not have children does not impact career • 56% of male faculty members have spouses that are employed full-time, compared to 89% of female faculty members (Jacobs, 2004).

  12. Who Does the Child Care?

  13. Women Faculty – Job or Family? • “…while focusing on professional outcomes as the measure of gender equality, women have failed to notice that the gap between the family outcomes of men and women, as measured by marriage and children, has greatly widened.” • Women should be able to have a family and scientific career, just as men are • Mason and Gouldson, 2003

  14. Child Care at Canadian Universities • Dalhousie • 4 mos - 9 years • All year • After school program • Summer school • Subsidized (grad students) • Some university daycares have very extensive programs (e.g. York, Brock, Guelph, Waterloo)

  15. Canadian universities often have high quality daycare. Problem: accessibility • Wait lists typically 1 to 2 years • e.g. Guelph. 875 names on waiting list for 111 spaces. • At some universities, students have priority over faculty • Expensive (e.g. Guelph, full time, approx. $1,100/month). (late pick up fines $1/min)

  16. Proposals to Assist Women with Families Stay in Science-Universities • Affordable, accessible campus day care • After school programs, summer programs, emergency back-up childcare (e.g. drop-in service)

  17. Proposals to Assist Women with Families Stay in Science-Universities • Reduced committee work and teaching load for women with young children • Tenure-clock stoppage • Institutional commitment to assist new faculty with academic spouse • Discount family related gaps when hiring faculty

  18. Proposals to Assist Women with Families Stay in Science-Gov’t • Tax reform • Total cost of daycare should be deductible expense (not first $7,000). Other costs of business have no deduction limit.

  19. NSERC Initiatives • Chair for Women in Science and Engineering • Former University Faculty Awards (UFA)

  20. NSERC Initiatives Grad students and Post Docs eligible for 4 month maternity/parental leave NSERC faculty can ask for extension of current grant 1 to 2 years

  21. Women Faculty in Biology CAUT 2009

  22. Many women enter non-tenure track positions (Wolfinger, 2009). Positions offer benefits to women with children: can be part time, widely available. Returning is harder, but not impossible, from these positions. Approx. 1 in 4 people who leave tenure-track return (Wolfinger, 2009) Best odds, lecturers, soft money research positions.

  23. Allowing Easier Re-entry from Non-Tenure Track Positions Could Substantially Increase Number of Women Faculty

  24. Proposals to Assist Women with Families Stay in Science-NSERC • Special Post Doctoral Fellowships for women re-entering science

  25. Suggestions for Women in Science with Families • Renegotiate child care and housework with partner • Live near relatives • Develop network of other mothers, neighbours etc. for babysitting, support

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