Surviving, but not thriving: the politics of care and the experience of motherhood in academia

Abstract

This article considers the challenges of juggling the demands of motherhood in the experience of early career researchers operating in the British neoliberal academy, and suggests opportunities for alliance and resistance. Scholarship examining questions of labour in the neoliberal university (Evans 2010, Lynch 2010, Morrish 2015 has made evident the effects of metrics, managerial rationalities, institutional structures and performances of equality (Tzanakou 2019) on marginalised academics. Furthermore, scholarship on gendered and racialised labour in the academy (Arday and Mirza 2018, Bhopal 2018, Gabriel and Tate 2017, Gqola 2018) has made visible the enforcement of structural inequalities in the distribution and undertaking of academic labour, its institutional visibility and resulting immobility. The typical narrative of academic success is undergirded by a specific form of resilience: a politics of coping that is dictated by neoliberal structures which prioritise particular forms of work and recognise only certain forms of commitment as valid or valuable. In this ecology, the affective labours of mothers in academia are often occluded.We write this article together, as recent new academic mothers, in order to explore forms of solidarity. We are interested in thinking about how motherhood and related caring responsibilities create a particular, precarious positioning in the university, one that raises important questions about ways of working in our pedagogy, writing, research and artistic practice.Academia creates the expectation of structural compliance, even though it paradoxically also demands intellectual agency. In this article, we offer an intersectional consideration of the stakes of being a mother in academia. We talk about the guilt and shame that we juggle personally and professionally, examine the entanglements of these affects with our academic work, and discuss our place in the neoliberal institution. We articulate motherhood as a feminist strategy of resistance and allyship, and call attention to re-positioning that experience by developing new ways of moving forward, together.

Conforming to and resisting imposed identities – an autoethnography on academic motherhood

“…Similar concerns have been raised by others (Low and Damian Martin, 2019). Isgro and Castañeda (2015) call for a "culture of care" within academic institutions that accommodates individuals' caretaking responsibilities and allows them to thrive within the various contexts of their lives.…”

“…However, I have been extremely puzzled by the contradictory expectations held by society and academia. Whereas the societal discourses assume us to take on entirely new identities as we become mothers, my experience with academia is almost the contrary; it is as if we are expected to carry out as normal (Low and Damian Martin, 2019). This seems to be in line with the neoliberal ideology which incites women to foster a happy work–life balance and views us personally responsible for organizing the competing demands (Rottenberg, 2018; Yoong, 2020).…”

Women's career in Vietnamese academia: An analysis from multiple lenses

“…For example, participants in Dickson's (2018) study on academic women in the United Arab Emirates consider their children as an inspiration to their work output and career goals, with the key motivation of trying to build a better life or financial security for themselves. However, there is evidence across contexts that academic mothers face the pressure of negotiating the notions of good mother and academic professional (Huopalainen & Satama, 2019;Low & Damian Martin, 2019;Thun, 2020).…”

“…The notion of that ideal work benefits men more than it does women due to the gendered division of labour at home and academic women's performance of mothering which fits the societal expectation of a 'good mother'. Therefore, academic mothers' strategy of working extra hours or prioritising family life only helps them to survive but not thrive (Low & Damian Martin, 2019).…”

Theatre and drama education and populism: The ensemble ‘family’ as a space for dialogic empathy and civic care

“…This reading of teaching as ‘mothering’ within the classroom is therefore applicable here because it demonstrates the politically engaging, inclusive and emancipatory potential of care‐led teaching which is alive to diverse students’ familial and community experiences. As Low and Martin (2019: 429) have argued, the experience and lens of motherhood shines a light on ‘precisely what needs to be unpacked [in neoliberal education institutions] in order to make space for collective resistance’. Within this case study, Grace’s construction of her role as a teacher with and through her personal and local identities can be read as a feminist resistance to the institutional models of school care and control (Yosso, 2005; Noddings, 2013; Gallagher, 2016; Tronto, 2017).…”