ARM/Brandeis Conference on Mothers in Academia

September 24th, 2008

The Association for Research on Mothering (ARM) and the Brandeis Women’s Studies
Research Center are pleased to host a Day Symposium
@ Brandeis University
Boston, MA
February 27, 2009

The Maternal Wall in Academe:
Academic Mothers and Strategies of Resistance and Empowerment

Many women today, particularly those that are college educated,
middle-class and professional, may not encounter gender discrimination
until they become mothers and hit full throttle the maternal wall that
blocks and blindsides them in their attempts at advancement. With women
still doing the bulk of household management – to include domestic
labour, childcare, and the emotional and organizational work of creating
and maintaining home, family and community, most mothers are unable to
put in the extensive overtime hours that are required for advancement
and success in most professions. Mothers thus find themselves “mommy
tracked” making sixty cents for every dollar earned by full-time fathers
(Williams, 2000, 2). Indeed, today the pay gap between mothers and non
mothers under thirty-five years is now larger than the wage gap between
young men and women (Crittenden, 94). As Ann Crittenden, author of The
Price of Motherhood, writes, “once a woman has a baby, the egalitarian
office party is over”.

This day symposium will explore the various strategies used by academic
mothers as they encounter the maternal wall in academe.

DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSIONS: December 1, 2008

Please email 250 word presentation abstract and 50 word bio to
arm@yorku.ca <mailto:arm@yorku.ca>

Registration and additional information TBA…

Association for Research on Mothering (ARM)
726 Atkinson, York University, 4700 Keele Street,
Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3
(Tel) (416) 736-2100 x 60366 (Fax) 416-736-5766
email us at arm@yorku.ca

http://www.yorku.ca/arm

Posted in Academic News | 3,478 Comments