Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer

Balancing Motherhood and Career in STEM Jobs

Abstract

Proportion of women working in the hitherto male-dominated sectors such as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (STEM) jobs are primarily low because of gender stereotyping and motherhood roles. Using the findings of the article titled Entitled to a Sustainable Career? Motherhood in Science, Engineering, and Technology published in the Journal of Social Issues, this report attempts to explain as to how STEM jobs can retain more women.

Keywords

STEM, Career, Motherhood, Women, Work

PDF

Author Biography

Rituparna Bhattacharyya

Director


References

Adya Monica and Kate Kaiser (2005). Early Determinants of Women in the IT Workforce: A Model of Girls’ Career Choices, Information Technology & People, 18 (3), 230-259.

Aveling, Nado (2002). ‘Having it All’ and the Discourse of Equal Opportunity: Reflections on Choices and Changing Perceptions, Gender and Education, 14 (3), 265–280.

Arnett, George (2015, 13 June). How Well Are Women Represented in UK Science?, The Guardian, Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2015/jun/13/how-well-are-women-represented-in-uk-science

Baber, Kristine M. and Patricia Monaghan (1988). College Women’s Career and Motherhood Expectations: New Options, Old Dilemmas, Sex Roles, 19 (3), 189-203.

Bielby, D.D. and W. T Bielby (1984). Work Commitment, Sex-Role Attitudes and Women’s Employment, American Sociological Review, 49, 234-247.

Bhattacharyya, Rituparna (2013). Are We Empowered? Stories of Young Indian working Women, Saarbrücken. Germany: Lap Lambert Academic Publishing.

Bhattacharyya, Rituparna (2009). Examining the Changing Status and Role of Middle Class Assamese Women: Lessons from the Lives of University Students. PhD thesis, Newcastle University, UK.

Granrose, C.S. and E.E. Caplan (1996). Work-Family Role Choices for Women in their 20s and 30s: From College Plans to Life Experiences, Westport: Praeger.

Herman Clem and Suzan Lewis (2012). Entitled to a Sustainable Career? Motherhood in Science, Engineering, and Technology, Journal of Social Issues, 68(4), 767-789.

Hoffnung, Michele (2011). Career and Family Outcomes for Women Graduates of Single-sex Versus Coed Colleges, Sex Roles, 65, 680-692.

Hoffnung, M. (2004). Wanting It All: Career, Marriage, and Motherhood during College-Educated Women’s 20s, Sex Roles, 50 (9-10), 711-723.

Lahiri-Dutt, Kuntala and Sil Pallabi (2014). Women's ‘Double Day’ in Middle-class Homes in Small-town India, Contemporary South Asia, 1-17, DOI: 10.1080/ 09584935.2014.979762.

Long, Scott, J. and Mary Frank Fox (1995). Scientific Careers: Universalism and Particularism, Annual Reviews, 21, 45-71, DOI: 10.1146/annurev.so.21.080195.000401.

Novack, L.L. and D.R. Novack (1996). Being Female in the Eighties and Nineties: Conflicts between New Opportunities and Traditional Expectations among White Middle Class Heterosexual College Women, Sex Roles, 35, 57-77.

Sarma, Rituparna B. (2008). Marriage, Motherhood and Career Salience: Young Women in Contemporary Society of Assam. In A.K. Ray and BD Ray (eds.) Women Emancipation: Focus North East India. New Delhi: Om Publications, pp. 163-182.

Williams, Wendy, M. and Stephen J. Ceci (2012). When Scientists Choose Motherhood, American Scientist, Retrieved from: http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/when-scientists-choose-motherhood

Wingfield, Brenda (2015, 24 August). Juggling a Career and Motherhood: A Scientist Tells Her Story. The Conversation. Retrieved from: http://theconversation.com/juggling-a-career-and-motherhood-a-scientist-tells-her-story-46352

Women and Work: The Facts, Retrieved from: http://gender.bitc.org.uk/research-insight/WomenWorkFactsheet

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 3 > >>