Sticky care and conference travel: unpacking care as an explanatory factor for gendered academic immobility

Abstract

While there is increasing awareness of the contributing effect of the academic mobility imperative on gendered inequalities in the academic profession at large, there is a missing link in current research on this topic. Namely, while 'care' is often named as the explanatory factor for why women, and to an extent professionals of any gender at peak childrearing age, are less mobile, this article argues that care is insufficient as an explanatory factor for immobility. Care and other terms such as 'family responsibilities' and 'domestic obligations' come to serve as a shorthand or explanatory factor for gendered immobility, but these terms elide the complexity of the relationship between care and mobility. This article argues that, without a fuller understanding of how care and mobility intersect, inclusivity drives run the risk of misunderstanding or even reproducing the problem. The specific mobility addressed here is international conference travel as a form of short-term academic mobility which contributes to academic career success and the perpetuation of a mobile academic ideal. The article elaborates a novel conceptual construct, 'sticky care', which is applied to empirical data from a diary-interview study of the impact of caring responsibilities on academics' conference participation. Two dominant mobility-related strategies are elaborated: 'night/s away' and 'get back'. The overarching ambition of this article is at a conceptual level: to bring more complexity and nuance to the concept of care when it is mobilized as an explanatory factor for (gendered) immobility and indeed for inequalities in the academic profession at large.

The Need for Sustainability, Equity, and International Exchange: Perspectives of Early Career Environmental Psychologists on the Future of Conferences

“…Those facing visa issues or lacking funding for (long-distance) travel are systematically disadvantaged by in-person conferences ( McInroy, 2018 ). Caretaking responsibilities and physical or mental disabilities or illnesses similarly inhibit travel ( Bradley et al, 2020 ; Henderson, 2021 ). More recently, travel regulations put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., tests and vaccinations as entry requirements) may place additional travel burdens on some ( Matthies et al, 2021 ).…”

Reconceptualising international academic mobility in the global knowledge system: towards a new research agenda

“…While physical mobility has been the predominant form of international academic mobility, virtual mobility is gaining increasing attention due to the development of technology, growing discourses about eco-friendly academia, and the drastic influences of the COVID-19 pandemic (Tzanakou & Henderson, 2021 ). In addition to mobility, issues of immobility have also been explored from gender perspectives (Henderson, 2021 ; Leung, 2014 ).…”

Move or perish? Sticky mobilities in the Swiss academic context

“…This definition of stickiness also adopts Henderson's (2020) definition. She emphasised, When any academic travels, a sticky contact zone is revealed between the academic and their home life which can be explored in terms of both practical and emotional stickiness.…”