The aim of this event is to establish a platform incorporating well-established female senior academics to younger scholars, who also have children to discuss the challenges and victories of being an academic and a mother. Both women (and men) could benefit from such an event since it has potential for mentoring, but also raising awareness about the very vital and real-life problems and practicalities for women, who want to have both families and successful careers (Wagner & Wodak 2006).
In ‘gendered’ cultures (Baxter 2003; Wagner & Wodak 2006) and many academic traditions, women are made to feel that if they choose to have children, then they are “not serious” about their academic careers (Diem-Wille 1996), (this does not necessarily hold true for men). As women, academics, and mothers, however, we know from our own personal experiences that while being a mother and an academic presents its many challenges, it is also possible. As a result, we would like to have a representative group that covers all levels of academia as well as different countries around the world in order to gain a global perspective and address these relevant, practical and personal issues situated at the crossroads of family life and professional academic careers (Ellis 2016; Komisarof & Hua 2016). In essence, we would like to offer a safe environment for people to talk about these issues freely, openly and honestly with one another.
References
Baxter, J. (2003). Positioning Gender in Discourse: A Feminist Methodology. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Diem-Wille, G. (1996). Karrierefrauen und Karrieremänner. Eine psychoanalytischorientierte Untersuchung ihrer Lebensgeschichte und Familiendynamik. Opladen/Stuttgart: WDV.
Ellis, R. (ed.). (2016). Becoming and Being an Applied Linguist: The life histories of some applied linguists. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Komisarof, A. and Z. Hua (eds.). (2016). Crossing Boundaries and WeavingIntercultural Work, Life, and Scholarship in Globalizing Universities. London: Routledge.
Wagner, I. and R. Wodak (2006). Performing Success: identifying strategies of self-presentation in women’s biographical narratives. Discourse and Society, 17 (3): 385-411.
