Do babies matter in academia?

Here’s the rationale behind the class for National Work and Family Month at Ohio State.

The career aspirations and trajectories of men and women PhDs diverge strongly in academic institutions, with men over-represented in the professoriate and women over-represented in non-tenure-track teaching, administrative, and support positions. Mason's research links those differing trajectories to family constraints, and suggests ways that institutions of higher learning can evolve to retain faculty and staff talent, and provide satisfying work opportunities for everyone.

What is this really saying? That if a woman (or man) choses to limit her career or job “aspiration” to aspire to be a hands on Mom or Dad instead of dropping the kid at day-care or grandma’s, then that’s a trajectory, or a constraint, that suggests Ohio State needs to do something.

I returned to work in the late 1970s and found OSU quite friendly for part-timers like me, and I enjoyed sampling a number of different positions until I found a fabulous, full time, tenure-track position in the Veternary Medicine Library. Nothing I did between 1977 and 1983 was wasted--I used it all.

This isn't the 1950s. When women don't move up in academe, it's probably for the same reasons that men of similar training and qualifications don't.

• Department politics.
• Failure to relocate.
• Poor selection of a specialty.
• Personality.
• Lack of desire to make the personal sacrifices.
• Poor networking.
• Lack of social skills.
• Little desire for either administration positions or required research.
• Family responsibilities are more interesting or more demanding.
• Poor publication record.
• Substance abuse or other health problems.