IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/gender/v26y2019i2p140-157.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Informality, emotion and gendered career paths: The hidden toll of maternity leave on female academics and researchers

Author

Listed:
  • Nicola Maxwell
  • Linda Connolly
  • Caitríona Ní Laoire

Abstract

While the negative impact of child‐raising and caring on women's career progression in academia is well‐established, less is known about the role of academic women's lived experiences of maternity leave as an institutional practice. This article presents the findings of a qualitative study of the lived experiences of female academics and researchers in an Irish university. The analysis intrinsically links organizational structures and problems with the lived and felt dimensions of work. The findings point to the need for better structural accommodations for maternity leave which address the relationship between caring and career disadvantage within academia. The article adds to existing literature on the intersection of motherhood and academia by unpicking the specific role of maternity leave as both a lived experience and an institutional practice that can reinforce gender inequalities in academia.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicola Maxwell & Linda Connolly & Caitríona Ní Laoire, 2019. "Informality, emotion and gendered career paths: The hidden toll of maternity leave on female academics and researchers," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 140-157, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:26:y:2019:i:2:p:140-157
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12306
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12306
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/gwao.12306?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Éva Fodor & Christy Glass, 2018. "Negotiating for entitlement: Accessing parental leave in Hungarian firms," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(6), pages 687-702, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dounia Bourabain, 2021. "Everyday sexism and racism in the ivory tower: The experiences of early career researchers on the intersection of gender and ethnicity in the academic workplace," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 248-267, January.
    2. Krystal Wilkinson & Julia Rouse, 2023. "Solo‐living and childless professional women: Navigating the ‘balanced mother ideal’ over the fertile years," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 68-85, January.
    3. Joanna M. Davies & Lisa Jane Brighton & Florence Reedy & Sabrina Bajwah, 2022. "Maternity provision, contract status, and likelihood of returning to work: Evidence from research intensive universities in the UK," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 1495-1510, September.
    4. Sarah Duffy & Michelle O’Shea & Liyaning Maggie Tang, 2023. "Sexually harassed, assaulted, silenced, and now heard: Institutional betrayal and its affects," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1387-1406, July.
    5. Miklós ANTAL & Benedikt LEHMANN & Thiago GUIMARAES & Alexandra HALMOS & Bence LUKÁCS, 2024. "Shorter hours wanted? A systematic review of working‐time preferences and outcomes," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 163(1), pages 25-47, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      More about this item

      Statistics

      Access and download statistics

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:26:y:2019:i:2:p:140-157. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0968-6673 .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.