Research
Below are some selected research related to family formation, parenthood, and related topics that may be of interest. Much of the research is focused at the faculty retention level and does not address the unique population of graduate students and postdocs families training to enter academia. If you have any suggested papers or reports, please email us at parentalliance@lists.stanford.edu
Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women (1999)
Virginia Valian, Hunter College, CUNY
From MIT Press: "Why do so few women occupy positions of power and prestige? Virginia Valian uses concepts and data from psychology, sociology, economics, and biology to explain the disparity in the professional advancement of men and women. ... Valian's goal is to make the invisible factors that retard women's progress visible, so that fair treatment of men and women will be possible. The book makes its case with experimental and observational data from laboratory and field studies of children and adults, and with statistical documentation on men and women in the professions."
Effective Policies and Programs for Retention and Advancement of Women in Academia
University of California Hastings, School of Law
This 25-page report highlights effective policies and programs in facilitating gender equity in recruiting, retaining and advancing women faculty. Competitive universities have recognized that eliminating the chilly climate for women, and effective implementation of family-responsive policies gives them an edge in attracting and retaining talented women faculty. Particularly in this period of sharply declining resources, effective programs to control gender bias and address work-life balance needs can improve faculty satisfaction and reduce costly attrition rates.
Women, Work, and the Academy: Strategies for responding to 'post civil rights era' gender discrimination (2007)
Alison Wylie, Janet R. Jakobsen, & Gisela Fosado, Barnard Center for Research on Women
This report is based on the Virginia C. Gildersleeve Conference at the Barnard Center for Research on Women, with keynote speakers Nancy Hopkins, Claude Steele, and Virginia Valian. The participants in this conference have all made significant contributions to our understanding of the situation women currently face in academia, highlighting the effects of a diffuse set of barriers to women’s participation: small-scale, often unintended differences in recognition, support and response that can generate large-scale differences in outcomes for women. This conference was organized so as to take stock of the extant research and interventions and to chart a course forward.
Do Babies Matter (Part II)? Closing the Baby Gap (2004)
Mary Ann Mason and Marc Goulden, Academe
Even though women make up nearly half of the PhD population, they are not advancing at the same rate as men to the upper ranks of the professoriate; many are dropping out of the race. Their first "Do Babies Matter?" article, published in the November-December 2002 issue of Academe, examined the effect of family formation on academic careers. They reported, not surprisingly, that babies do matter for men and women PhDs working in academia. They matter a great deal, especially their timing. They found that men with "early" babies—those with a child entering their household within five years of their receiving the PhD—are 38 percent more likely than their women counterparts to achieve tenure.
Getting a Job: Is there a motherhood penalty? (2007)
Shelley J. Correll, Stephen Benard, and In Paik, American Journal of Sociology
Survey research finds that mothers suffer a substantial wage penalty, although the causal mechanism producing it remains elusive. The authors employed a laboratory experiment to evaluate the hypothesis that status-based discrimination plays an important role and an audit study of actual employers to assess its real-world implications. In both studies, participants evaluated application materials for a pair of same-gender equally qualified job candidates who differed on parental status. The laboratory experiment found that mothers were penalized on a host of measures, including perceived competence and recommended starting salary. Men were not penalized for, and sometimes benefited from, being a parent. The audit study showed that actual employers discriminate against mothers, but not against fathers.
Marriage and baby blues: Redefining gender equity in the academy (2004)
Mary Ann Mason and Marc Goulden, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
Traditionally, gender equity in the academy is evaluated in terms of women's professional success as compared to men's. This study examines gender equity not only in terms of professional outcomes but also in terms of familial outcomes, such as childbirth, marriage, and divorce. Using data from the Survey of Doctorate Recipients as well as data from a 2002 to 2003 survey of the work and family issues facing ladder-rank faculty in the nine campuses of the University of California system, the authors followed more than thirty thousand Ph.D.s in all disciplines across their life course and surveyed more than eighty-five hundred active University of California faculty. Results indicate that gender equity in terms of familial gains is as elusive as gender equity in terms of professional employment, raising the fundamental issue of what gender equity means in a university setting or in any fast-track employment setting.
Social Support in Academic Programs and Family Environments: Sex Differences and Role Conflicts for Graduate Students (1992)
Mallinckrodt, B & Leong, F. T.L. Journal of Counseling & Development
In this study, the students living in graduate student housing were surveyed to assess: social support in their academic programs and in their family environments, recent stressful life events, and depression and anxiety as psychological symptoms of stress. Women respondents reported significantly more stress, more symptoms of stress, and significantly less support from their academic departments and family environments than did men. Furthermore, the study found that family support had only buffering effects, but no direct effects on stress symptoms for women. Moreover, graduate program and family support had direct effects, but no buffering effects on stress symptoms for men. These results may indicate greater role strain for women, perhaps resulting from less support for their multiple roles and greater concerns about balancing academic and family demands.
Graduate School of Education-Family Network-Needs Assessment Interim Report Fall 2017
Thank you to Carrie Townley Flores, Family Chair of the Student Guild (PhD student) who compiled this data on behalf of students with families, and students who are considering family planning during their tenure at Stanford Graduate School of Education.
This is a great model for other schools and major departments to follow as a form of learning about the needs of this student population.
Download the report here (version Dec 3, 2017): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rV3B-2f6nfc6P8jmfP7jC_yu9EUOoH_W/view?usp=sharing
Why Paid Family Leave is Good Business (Feb, 2017)
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG)-Report. Report detailing paid family leave practices and lessons we can learn from the business world. Download link available here.
Study on academic advising and mentoring experiences of female Ph.D. students with children. (posted July 30, 2018)
My name is Alyssa Ferree and I am a Graduate Student at the University of San Francisco, in the School of Education; my interest is in the academic advising and mentoring experiences of female Ph.D. students with children. To participate in my study:
- Currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Stanford University
- Mother to a child five years old or younger
- Completed at least one year (three academic quarters, excluding summer) in the Ph.D. program
Your total time commitment for this research study is two hours and you are free to withdraw from the study at any point. Pseudonyms will be used to protect confidentiality. Upon completion of an interview you will be offered a $10 gift card for an on-campus establishment. Please complete this questionnaire: https://goo.gl/forms/csvecJWUEaE5XLVP2; participants will be selected from all who respond and meet the criteria. If you have any questions, please contact me at aferree@usfca.edu or aferree@stanford.edu.
Parents in the Pipeline: Retaining Postdoctoral Researchers with Families from the Pregnant Scholar (June 2017)
Parents in the Pipeline: Retaining Postdoctoral Researchers with Families is produced by the Pregnant Scholar in partnership with the National Postdoctoral Association. The report, based on institutional data and the first comprehensive nationwide survey of postdocs who have children, highlights the full dimension of the parenthood leak in the STEM pipeline and what institutions can do about it.
The report includes:
· Survey and institutional policy data on pregnancy accommodations, paid and unpaid parental leave, attitudes about leave, and benefits for postdoc parents;
· Survey data revealing significant differences in the experiences of postdocs who are women, immigrants, and/or people of color; and,
· Examples and recommendations on how institutions can better support postdoc parents.
If you have any questions, or would like to be connected with additional resources on the topic, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the report’s lead author (leejessica@uchastings.edu). Additional resources for postdocs and those who work with them are also available on the initiative’s website www.ThePregnantScholar.org.
Proposed Research (Submitted in Jan 2017-unfunded)
A graduate student member of this Alliance submitted a research proposal to further investigate this area of work. This proposal was submitted to the Stanford Diversity and Inclusion Innovation Fund (DIIF). Unfortunately, the research proposal was not funded.
The main research questions for the DIIF included: (1) Are there graduate student parents at Stanford, if so, who are they? (2) What, if any, are the barriers toward degree completion for this graduate student parent population at Stanford?
One of the outcomes of this proposed work to DIIF was to identify this "invisible population" of diverse graduate students who have families both on and off campus and to better understand barriers toward degree completion that are specific to graduate students who are parents.