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Mama, PhD
Women Write about Motherhood and Academic Life
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Edited by:
Elrena Evans
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Preface by:
Miriam Peskowitz
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2008
About this book
Every year, American universities publish glowing reports stating their commitment to diversity, often showing statistics of female hires as proof of success. Yet, although women make up increasing numbers of graduate students, graduate degree recipients, and even new hires, academic life remains overwhelming a man's world. The reality that the statistics fail to highlight is that the presence of women, specifically those with children, in the ranks of tenured faculty has not increased in a generation. Further, those women who do achieve tenure track placement tend to report slow advancement, income disparity, and lack of job satisfaction compared to their male colleagues.
Amid these disadvantages, what is a Mama, PhD to do? This literary anthology brings together a selection of deeply felt personal narratives by smart, interesting women who explore the continued inequality of the sexes in higher education and suggest changes that could make universities more family-friendly workplaces.
The contributors hail from a wide array of disciplines and bring with them a variety of perspectives, including those of single and adoptive parents. They address topics that range from the level of policy to practical day-to-day concerns, including caring for a child with special needs, breastfeeding on campus, negotiating viable maternity and family leave policies, job-sharing and telecommuting options, and fitting into desk/chair combinations while eight months pregnant.
Candid, provocative, and sometimes with a wry sense of humor, the thirty-five essays in this anthology speak to and offer support for any woman attempting to combine work and family, as well as anyone who is interested in improving the university's ability to live up to its reputation to be among the most progressive of American institutions.
Amid these disadvantages, what is a Mama, PhD to do? This literary anthology brings together a selection of deeply felt personal narratives by smart, interesting women who explore the continued inequality of the sexes in higher education and suggest changes that could make universities more family-friendly workplaces.
The contributors hail from a wide array of disciplines and bring with them a variety of perspectives, including those of single and adoptive parents. They address topics that range from the level of policy to practical day-to-day concerns, including caring for a child with special needs, breastfeeding on campus, negotiating viable maternity and family leave policies, job-sharing and telecommuting options, and fitting into desk/chair combinations while eight months pregnant.
Candid, provocative, and sometimes with a wry sense of humor, the thirty-five essays in this anthology speak to and offer support for any woman attempting to combine work and family, as well as anyone who is interested in improving the university's ability to live up to its reputation to be among the most progressive of American institutions.
Author / Editor information
ELRENA EVANS received her MFA in creative writing from The Pennsylvania State University, and is a columnist for Literary Mama. Her work also appears in the anthologies Twentysomething Essays by Twentysomething Writers and How to Fit a Car Seat on a Camel.
Caroline Grant is Senior Editor and a columnist for Literary Mama. She holds a PhD in comparative literature from the University of California at Berkeley.
Caroline Grant is Senior Editor and a columnist for Literary Mama. She holds a PhD in comparative literature from the University of California at Berkeley.
Reviews
"An optimistic narrative of work-family balance among women with PhDs. Mama PhD gave advice about achieving a successful work-family balance in academia, presented several models of success, and left me with a more optimistic view of my chances at balancing child raising with s successful career."
— Arielle Kuperberg, Women's Studies Quarterly"Through the voices of those who have weathered the storm, Mama, PhD provides invaluable lessons for young scholars-both men and women-striving to navigate family and academic careers."
— Robert Drago, author of Striking a Balance: Work, Family, Life"All those sleepless nights and dirty diapers and baby food in your hair-where's the discursive construction of motherhood when you need it? It's here, in these smart, funny, poignant essays that struggle to balance mind and body, to balance body and soul."
— Catherine Newman, PhD, author of Waiting for Birdy"A unique and potent mixture of memoir, analysis, and advocacy. Mama PhD stands out in its ability to blend testimony, analysis, and advocacy, from a variety of perspectives. This volume raises striking questions about women's changing roles."
— Feminist Teacher"Each writer beautifully articulates the personal details of her own experiences. Whether working to conceal their family lives in order to maintain professional credibility, fighting with administrators for fair and flexible treatment, defiantly toting infants into the offices of their advisers, or dropping out of academia to search for different ways to combine intellect and motherhood, the contributors to Mama, PhD offer themselves up as potential role models to women wondering how to tackle these two demanding responsibilities."
— Katura Reynolds, Bitch Magazine"This is a charming, heartfelt book that expresses the difficulties and the joys of combining a life in academia with motherhood. Each story is different, but the experiences and challenges are widely shared."
— Mary Ann Mason, author of Mothers on the Fast Track: How a New Generation Can Balance Families"Well-written, personal, insightful and engaging, Mama, PhD gives an accurate glimpse into the feelings and conflicts that mothers in academia don't often reveal because such disclosure is felt to be unprofessional."
— Karen V. Hansen, author of Not-So-Nuclear Families: Class, Gender, and Networks of CareTopics
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Frontmatter
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Contents
vii -
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Foreword
xi -
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Acknowledgments
xv -
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Introduction
xvii - Part One: The Conversation
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The Conversation
3 -
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In Medias Res
11 -
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Scholar, Negated
16 -
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Student/Body
20 -
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On Being Phyllis’s Daughter: Thoughts on Academic Intimacy
25 -
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Engineering Motherhood
31 -
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The Wire Mother
39 -
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Fitting In
49 -
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Motherhood after Tenure: Confessions of a Late Bloomer
55 - Part Two: That Mommy Thing
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First Day of School
63 -
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Two Boards and a Passion: On Theater, Academia, and the Art of Failure
66 -
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Living (!) A Life I Never Planned
72 -
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Coming to Terms at Full Term
77 -
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One Mamá’s Dispensable Myths and Indispensable Machines
80 -
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That Mommy Thing
89 -
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Failure to Progress: What Having a Baby Taught Me about Aristotle, Advanced Degrees, Developmental Delays, and Other Natural Disasters
93 -
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Infinite Calculations
103 -
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I Stand Here Teaching: Tillie Olsen and Maternity in the Classroom
109 -
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The Facts, the Stories
116 -
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I Am Not a Head on a Stick: On Being a Teacher and a Doctor and a Mommy
123 -
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Lip Service
129 -
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Body Double
136 - Part Three: Recovering Academic
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The Long and Winding Road
145 -
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The Bags I Carried
149 -
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One of the Boys
159 -
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Free to Be...Mom and Me: Finding My Complicated Truth as an Academic Daughter
168 -
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Nontraditional Academics: At Home with Children and a PhD
174 -
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A Great Place to Have a Baby
184 -
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Recovering Academic
189 - Part Four: Momifesto
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The Orange Kangaroo
201 -
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Ideal Mama, Ideal Worker: Negotiating Guilt and Shame in Academe
213 -
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In Theory/In Practice: On Choosing Children and the Academy
222 -
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Motherhood Is Easy; Graduate School Is Hard
231 -
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Momifesto: Affirmations for the Academic Mother
237 -
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In Dreams Begin Possibilities—Or, Anybody Have Time for a Change?
247 -
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Contributors
251
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
June 22, 2020
eBook ISBN:
9780813544984
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9780813544984
Keywords for this book
American universities; diversity; female hires; graduate students; graduate degree recipients; academic life; tenured faculty; Mama; PhD; literary anthology; personal narratives; women; inequality of the sexes; higher education; family-friendly workplaces; contributors; disciplines; perspectives; single parents; adoptive parents; policy; practical concerns; child with special needs; breastfeeding on campus; maternity and family leave policies; job-sharing; telecommuting options; pregnant women; candid; provocative; wry sense of humor; essays; work and family; progressive institutions.
Audience(s) for this book
For universities and colleges of further and higher education
