It is well documented in the literature that mothers in academia often work a “second shift,” performing a majority of the uncompensated labor at home in addition to the compensated labor in the workforce. Further, this second shift is compounded by a “child tax,” where mothers are penalized by the academy for caregiving responsibilities. Yet, much of the existing literature on gender disparity among faculty in higher education pertains to two-parent, heterogenous family structures. This results in a significant void and underrepresentation of other groups. The focus of this chapter is “solo parents,” specifically solo-mother-academics. A solo parent is one who has no co-parent with whom to share caregiving responsibilities. In this chapter, the author presents a literature review, highlights of the author's experiences as a solo-mother in the academy, and ways to navigate both worlds. This work is influenced by qualitative research methods.
TopThe Challenges And The Void
Women are expected to “work as if they do not have family responsibilities and raise children as if they don’t have work obligations” (Zappala-Piemme & Squires, 2021, p. 143). While not a new phenomenon, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted society’s and the workforce’s unrealistic expectations of working mothers. It also exacerbated the disproportionality in domestic labor between employed mothers and employed fathers. Tasks like ensuring the health and safety of family members, supporting the academic needs of children, and maintaining household chores have been - and continue to be - split unequally among men and women (Boesch & Hamm, 2020; Carlson, Petts, & Pepin, 2021; Cohen & Hsu, 2020; Frederickson, 2020; Ibarra, 2020; Krivkovich et al., 2022; Perelman, 2020; Pineault & Rouzer, 2020).
Mothers in academia are not spared from this experience. They work a “second shift,” performing much of the uncompensated labor at home in addition to the compensated labor in the workforce (Hochschild, 1989). This second shift is often compounded by a “child tax” where mothers are penalized by the academy for caregiving responsibilities (Cardel et al., 2020). Concerningly, much of the existing literature on gender disparity among faculty in higher education pertains to two-parent, heterogenous family structures. This results in a significant void and underrepresentation of other groups.
The focus of this chapter is “solo parents,” specifically solo mother-academics. A solo parent is one who has no co-parent with whom to share caregiving responsibilities. My writing is both personal and professional as I reflect on my own experience and explore extant research. I intertwine academic and creative writing to tell this story. What follows is a literature review, highlights of my experiences as a solo mother-academic, and ways to navigate both worlds as a caregiver and college professor.