Mothering and Motherhood in Academia

Fertility Choices and Generational Implications in the Neoliberal Academic Labour Market
1. Auflage 2027
ISBN: 978-1-5292-5521-8
Verlag: Bristol University Press

Buch, Englisch, 192 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Generations, Transitions and Social Change

Can I be a good scientist and a good mother? This haunting question shapes the lives of many academic women.

This book examines the double-lock linking maternity and academic careers in contemporary Italy: how motherhood—and even its anticipation—shapes recruitment, evaluation and stabilization, and how academic competitiveness and precarity, in turn, reshape fertility choices and timing.

Drawing on narrative interviews with two generations of scholars and engaging with international literature, it shows how institutional cultures and gendered expectations reinforce structural constraints while normalizing unequal trade-offs. It identifies pathways to rethink academic careers so that excellence and parenthood can coexist.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Russo, Concetta

Minello, Alessandra

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies, Geschlechtersoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gewalt und Diskriminierung: Soziale Aspekte
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Familiensoziologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction

1. Academic Careers and Fertility

2. Motherhood and Self-Identity

3. The Labour of Mothering vs the Mothers’ Labour

4. Breaking the Glass Ceiling and Overcoming the Maternal Wall: Gender Disparities in Academic Careers

5. Becoming Academic Mothers: Challenges and Contexts

6. Mothering Academia: Between Precariousness and New Parental Roles

7. Nurturing Equality

Conclusion

Über Autor(innen)

Minello, Alessandra
Alessandra Minello is Assistant Professor in Demography at the Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Padua.

Russo, Concetta
Concetta Russo is Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Guglielmo Marconi.

Concetta Russo is Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Guglielmo Marconi.

Alessandra Minello is Assistant Professor in Demography at the Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Padua.