A Los Angeles news report this week looked at whether women in academia are able to have both a family and a career. The report notes a 2008 study of 8,000 doctoral students where "more than half of all female candidates felt that having children would hinder their careers, and that fear of being held back postponed many academic women's child-rearing, sometimes permanently".
Catherine Fox (2012), a deputy editor of Australian Financial Review's Boss magazine, believes that "the attitudes towards mothers in the workplace are but one aspect of broader gender discrimination that kicks in from the time a woman enters it".
Siobhan Leathley (2012) notes how in accounting "the biggest income discrepancy was between men and women with 16-20 years experience". As identified by both commentators, years of experience can mean little for women in the workplace.
For women who are new to academia, the problem is compounded by the permanent position to graduate ratio. For example, at the time of posting, University of Otago has 15 permanent academic positions, Massey University has 11 , and Victoria University of Wellington has 6. That's a total of 32 positions across three of the eight universities. Last month, 38 PhDs were awarded by Auckland University of Technology alone. The likelihood that a new academic will achieve a permanent academic position in New Zealand does not appear great.
Are you a New Zealand woman considering or currently in academia? How easy do you think it is to find academic work? And do you think having it is part of 'having it all'?
