Academic Motherhood: How Faculty Manage Work and Family

Chapter 10. Policy Perspectives

179 Sarah got pregnant in her third year on the tenure track at a comprehensive state university. After trying to get pregnant for two years, she was ecstatic. She told a few colleagues she was pregnant and everyone was happy for her. One of her friends, a colleague in another department, asked her what she was going to do when she had the baby in terms of time off and daycare and, frankly, Sarah had not considered taking a leave. She didn’t know what policies were available, no one mentioned taking a leave, and she just figured she would work it out with her husband and family. She didn’t want to be a burden to the department because everyone was already overloaded. One faculty member was on sabbatical and the department had a vacancy to fill, so she couldn’t fathom how there would be any leave available even if there was a policy. She was due in April and would only have one month left in the semester, so she didn’t think leave was a big deal. She asked a colleague to teach classes for her for the first couple of weeks after her due date and she figured she’d be back to work before the end of the semester. Her mother was going to come from out of town to help take care of the baby and her husband planned to take a couple of weeks off to help as well. She would spend the summer mostly with her baby, but she figured she would get some work done, too, because as a tenure-track faculty member she felt it was important “not to skip a beat.” She felt she was doing fine in terms of teaching and research in her tenure-track appointment, but she also felt it was chapter 10 O Policy Perspectives 180 academic motherhood very important to maintain productivity. She didn’t want anyone to look at her dossier and see any lags. When we talked to Sarah in the first interview, a year after she had her baby, she was totally fine with not having taken leave. Everything worked out. She figured the policies wouldn’t have helped her because she was new and she didn’t want to call attention to herself anyway. Her mother loved the opportunity to help her and spend time with the new baby. When we talked to her eight years later and she reflected back on not taking leave (for the first baby or when she had her second baby in the year when she went up for tenure) she told us: “I was stupid; I should have just asked and taken the leave. I had a colleague who just had a baby and she worked with our chair to take on some curriculum revision projects in lieu of teaching for the second half of the semester when she had her baby. I should have asked for something in terms of leave. Somehow it seems different now than when I had my baby. We have the university’s Commission for Women talking about these [work and family policy] issues and people seem more open to taking leaves. It’s become more the norm. Frankly, when I was pregnant and considered taking a leave, I was scared. I didn’t want anyone to think I couldn’t handle it. Like I said, I was stupid; I should have taken the leave. I trust myself more now, when I was on the tenure track I felt too vulnerable to ask for much.” Sarah’s experience with work and family policy is unfortunately very common among early-career faculty. As new faculty members on the tenure track, assistant professors are reticent to ask for much, and asking for leave seems unduly burdensome for faculty colleagues, especially in small departments when everyone is already working hard. The lore of the tenure track is “full steam ahead” so people, especially when they are early in their careers and uncertain about so many things, are timid and unsure of what accommodation is available and how to ask for it. Department chairs, even well-meaning ones, often wait to be asked by the faculty member who is pregnant to determine an appropriate accommodation. They don’t want to be intrusive. They figure that if the faculty member needs help, she’ll ask for it. policy perspectives 181...