Having it all, or avoiding black holes? Career–family strategies and the choice between leaving or staying in academia among Swedish PhDs

Anne Grönlund

doi:10.1080/13668803.2020.1777090

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite a persistent notion that women exit academia due to family responsibilities, research on exits is scarce. Based on 32 interviews, the paper explores how male and female PhDs recount the choice of leaving versus remaining in academia in terms of aspirations, opportunities and constraints. The main question is whether the exit/remain decision reflects gendered work-family strategies in a modern dual-earner society like Sweden. The narratives form a fourfold typology of strategic and accidental stayers, as well as strategic and accidental leavers. The analysis points to assymmetric opportunities connected to both gender roles and internal/external employment prospects. Family concerns formed a prominent reason for exit but problems of job insecurity and care involvement were highlighted by both men and women. Female but not male stayers could forsee obstacles and applied a range of strategies to minimize the impact of family on their careers. All in all, findings did not conform to prevailing notions of female exits but suggest that the academic career system present women and families with complex dilemmas even in a country with supportive policies. In future, exit processes should be furthered studied in other institutional contexts.

Highlights

For a long time, the numeric gender imbalance at higher academic ranks was discussed as a transitional phenomenon destined to fade away as more women entered university
The widespread notion that women leave academia due to family responsibilities was put to test with a study based on qualitative interviews with male and female PhDs in Sweden, where institutions support a family model based on equal roles in work and family
The findings show that, in this context, women’ s work-family strategies are more complex than envisaged both in labour market theory and in scholarly debates on academic careers

Summary

Introduction

The numeric gender imbalance at higher academic ranks was discussed as a transitional phenomenon destined to fade away as more women entered university. The underlying logic is that within-household specialization between paid work and care would maximize household utility These assumptions seem outdated at a time when women’ s educational investments exceed those of men across the OECD (2019). Scholars argue that women will avoid complex jobs where continous skill development make work interruptions problematic (Estévez-Abe, 2005; Polachek, 2004). Such jobs entail ‘family-unfriendly’ work demands such as long hours and requirements for continuous availability Such jobs entail ‘family-unfriendly’ work demands such as long hours and requirements for continuous availability (e.g. Grönlund & Öun, 2018 Magnusson, 2019;)

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