Family and the field: Expectations of a field-based research career affect researcher family planning decisions

Abstract

Field-based data collection provides an extraordinary opportunity for comparative research. However, the demands of pursuing research away from home creates an expectation of unburdened individuals who have the temporal, financial, and social resources to conduct this work. Here we examine whether this myth of the socially unencumbered scholar contributes to the loss of professionals and trainees. To investigate this, we conducted an internet-based survey of professional and graduate student anthropologists (n = 1025) focused on the challenges and barriers associated with developing and maintaining a fieldwork-oriented career path and an active family life. This study sought to determine how (1) family socioeconomic status impacts becoming an anthropologist, (2) expectations of field-based research influence family planning, and (3) fieldwork experiences influence perceptions of family-career balance and stress. We found that most anthropologists and anthropology students come from educated households and that white men were significantly more likely to become tenured professionals than other demographic groups. The gender disparity is striking because a larger number of women are trained in anthropology and were more likely than men to report delaying parenthood to pursue their career. Furthermore, regardless of socioeconomic background, anthropologists reported significant lack of family-career balance and high stress associated with the profession. For professionals, lack of balance was most associated with gender, age, SES, tenure, and impacts of parenting on their career, while for students it was ethnicity, relative degree speed, graduate funding, employment status, total research conducted, career impact on family planning, and concern with tenure (p < .05). Anthropology bridges the sciences and humanities, making it the ideal discipline to initiate discussions on the embedded structural components of field-based careers generalizable across specialties.

Return on capital? Determinants of counter-migration among early career Israeli STEM researchers

“…Studies have shown that social background affects individual educational attainments, implying that parental (notably cultural) capital is a reliable predictor of academic success [13]. Accordingly, young students, who are familiar with rules of the academic field (e.g., colleges and universities), may devise strategies that would assist them in acting–and succeeding—within it [55]. Studying abroad, for example, is a valuable expression of having a ‘feel for the game’ in this specific field [56, 57], ‘an element of the academic habitus’ ([21], p. 87), that advances mobility in the field.…”

Women's experiences in early physical anthropology

“…Recent research shows that women's academic careers are more negatively affected by family concerns than are men's; relatively fewer women are at the highest ranks, and they are much less likely than men to be married or to have children (Mason et al, ). This has more recently been documented specifically in fieldwork‐based anthropology (Lynn et al, ).…”

“…Documenting these women's experiences adds historical context to continued gender inequality in physical anthropology (Turner et al, ). This manifests today as women being underrepresented in faculty positions relative to the numbers of women in the field (Antón et al, ; Turner, ), prematurely stopped or delayed in career advancement (Turner et al, ), more likely than men to experience harassment (Clancy et al, ), having careers that are disproportionately affected by family responsibilities (Lynn et al, ), and being under‐recognized for their professional contributions (Isbell et al, ). Promisingly though, increasing numbers of women hold tenure track positions, the immediate past four presidents of the AAPA have been women, and organizations such as the Committee on Diversity Women's Initiative have formed with the purpose of prioritizing the retention and advancement of women in anthropology (Turner et al, ).…”

“…Despite these increased numbers, anthropology continues, along with other STEM fields, to be afflicted by gender disparities and sexism. Women in science remain underrepresented in faculty and leadership positions despite rising numbers of female PhD recipients (Antón, Malhi, & Fuentes, ; Nelson & Rogers, ); are overrepresented in nontenure‐track and part‐time positions (Finkelstein, Conley, & Schuster, ); are often prematurely stopped or delayed in career advancement (Kulis, Sicotte, & Collins, ); are more likely than men to experience harassment (National Academies, ); have careers that are disproportionately affected by family responsibilities (Lynn, Howells, & Stein, ; Mason, Wolfinger, & Goulden, ); and are under‐recognized for their professional contributions (Isbell, Young, & Harcourt, ). Recently, Turner, Bernstein, and Taylor () compiled data on these disparities specifically for biological anthropology, and emphasized the considerable interest within the field in better understanding and addressing these inequities.…”

Resilient Scholarship in the Digital Age

“…The problem is worse in a field discipline such as archaeology since research, teaching, and professional development are frequently linked to fieldwork undertaken at some distance from both office and family home. Indeed, a study of anthropologists and fieldwork found higher levels of stress due to an imbalance between career and family alongside gender inequities and intersectionality (Lynn, Howells & Stein 2018).…”