There are many aspects of the academic system that are unfair, inequitable, or just no longer fit for purpose in today’s world. Yet we are bound to work under these processes, which for many academics means we are either finding ways to work around them, working under them reluctantly, or leaving academia because of them.
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Normalise the ‘wanting to quit’ feels in academia
We don’t talk enough about thinking about quitting academia.
We tend to focus on the two extremes, the success stories in academia vs the reasons many people quit. But what about the more common middle ground?
Most of us think about quitting multiple times during our careers without following through. There are many reasons (financial, personal or professional) why an individual can’t or won’t quit, even if they think about doing it. But we rarely voice these feelings to friends or colleagues because of the stigma around quitting, the risk of not being taken seriously afterwards, or the potential for professional retaliation.
Continue readingWork-life balance and academic parents
I haven’t written here for a while because I’ve been busy hanging out with my new baby. I’ve also been busy thinking about how we still haven’t achieved a normalised work culture that truly supports parents/carers to build a career around their family. I’m writing from my perspective as a woman and a mother, but most of these points also apply to other parents and carers.
It’s well-documented that academia has entrenched problems with gender diversity at senior levels, partly because of women leaving/being forced out of academic careers due to their choices around having children. A lot has been done to address this, but there’s still a lot more to do.
We need systemic change, not piecemeal initiatives and more cupcakes. We need to normalise ‘having a family/life priorities’ at work. Instead of trying to help parents to maintain pre-baby levels of work productivity, academic work expectations have to change long-term to enable parents to truly find some work-life balance.
Forcing women to choose between relying on childcare to continue working vs. quitting work to care for their child is not equitable.
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Ecology is not a dirty word 