Identify the issue: Family-friendly policies
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Learn about the family-friendly services and policies your university may have for graduate students.
“If work is part of your identity, think very carefully before you give it up. Giving it up won’t make you a better mother; it will make you less of the person you are, and that will make you less of a mother.” — Jean Marzollo, Author
“Being a woman in science, you can have it all: a rewarding career, a supportive family, and an excitement for life. There is nothing more satisfying than being a role model for my three daughters.”
“Women used to not ask to use the policy for fear of being judged negatively, for fear that using the policy would be used against them. But in the last 5-6 years, the attitude has changed.”
“I could not have come into graduate school more motivated to be a research-oriented professor. Now I feel that can only be a career possibility if I am willing to sacrifice having children.”
In demanding occupations, employees who devote 24/7 to their jobs are viewed as “ideal workers.” The ideal worker norm can apply to graduate students as well. There is often an implicit expectation that you spend all your waking hours in the lab or at your computer without outside responsibilities or distractions. The culture of academia is based on the assumption that “good” students and professors are dedicated solely to their work. Female graduate students are generally more disadvantaged by this norm since gender role expectations still identify women as responsible for caretaking and domestic work.
The reality is that a substantial proportion of women doctoral students have dependent children; more than a quarter of doctoral students and a third of women graduate students have dependent children (U.S. Dept.of Education, 2019). If you are a graduate-student parent struggling to fulfill program expectations and family needs, you are not alone:
On average, female graduate-student parents spend 16 more hours a week on household and family responsibilities (compared to male graduate-student parents) (Mason, et al., 2009).
Most female PhD students wish faculty were more understanding and supportive of their outside commitments.
Almost half of female graduate students who decide to give up on their dream to become a research professor report that this career decision was related to parenting.
Getting through graduate school can be tricky when you are a parent, but universities are beginning to recognize the importance of family-friendly policies and services to help retain high-quality students and promote student satisfaction. Many universities have the following family-friendly services and policies for graduate students:
Lactation rooms on campus for nursing mothers
Health insurance or subsidies for dependents
Family housing
Affordable, flexible campus childcare
Services to help parents locate affordable childcare
Childcare subsidies (some have subsidies for outside campus childcare)
Parental and maternity leave policies
Family leave-of-absence policies (for example, to care for a sick parent)
Family-friendly social functions
Student-parent centers
Eldercare classes
Looking Toward the Future: Dual-Career Issues
If you are aiming for an academic career, learn as much as you can about the job search and hiring process. One of the upcoming challenges not usually on the radar of graduate students is how to find two positions in the same geographical area or, better, at the same institution. When one person is recruited for a faculty position, it is generally difficult to obtain and finalize a satisfying position for a partner before a decision is needed.
Gender bias is still a substantial concern in faculty hiring practices. The phenomenon of inadequate arrangements for the “trailing spouse,” historically the woman, is only slowly fading in the academy. Fortunately, universities are paying more attention to the value in helping new faculty to find employment for their partner. Some examples are listed below. Arrangements for dual-career academics are being made, through negotiation, but these rarely appear in policy statements.
Family-friendly policies and benefits for graduate students are expanding but vary by university. Your graduate college is the best place to begin your search for what is available. Your advisor and mentors may know of helpful resources as well.
Stay informed about what is available to you. Knowing about the policies that exist and others that are needed will set the stage for establishing what to look for in your future positions. If you would like your university to offer more resources, you can work with your campus graduate student association to raise awareness and advocate.
Feeney, M., Bernal, M., & Bowman, L. (2014). Enabling work? Family-friendly policies and academic productivity for men and women scientists. Science & Public Policy, 41(6), 750–764. https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scu006
Kulp, A. (2020). Parenting on the path to the professoriate: A focus on graduate student mothers. Research in Higher Education, 61(3), 408–429. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-019-09561-z
Lester, J. (2013). Family‐friendly policies for doctoral students. New Directions for Higher Education, 2013(163), 55–65. https://doi.org/10.1002/he.20065
Mason, M., Goulden, M., & Frasch, K. (2009). Why graduate students reject the fast track. Academe (Washington. 1979), 95(1), 11–16.
Mason, M., Wolfinger, N., & Goulden, M. (2013). Do babies matter?: Gender and family in the ivory tower. Rutgers Univ. Press.
Mirick, R., & Wladkowski, S. (2018). Pregnancy, Motherhood, and Academic Career Goals: Doctoral Students’ Perspectives. Affilia, 33(2), 253–269. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109917753835
Tan-Wilson, A., & Stamp, N. (2015). College students’ views of work-life balance in STEM research careers: Addressing negative preconceptions. CBE Life Sciences Education, 14(3), es5–. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.14-11-0210
Tower, L., & Dilks, L. (2015). Work/life satisfaction policy in ADVANCE universities: Assessing levels of flexibility. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 8(3), 157–174. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039372
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, (2019). Profile and Financial Aid Estimates of Graduate Students: 2015–16. NCES 2019-469. https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2019469
University of California (2019). Undergraduate outcomes and graduate and professional degree students. UC: Institutional Research and Academic Planning.
Williams, W. M., & Ceci, S. J. (2012). When scientists choose motherhood. American Scientist, 100(2), 138–145. https://doi.org/10.1511/2012.95.138
Wolf-Wendel, L., & Ward, K. (2015). Academic mothers: Exploring disciplinary perspectives. Innovative Higher Education, 40(1), 19–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-014-9293-4
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