A large portion of academics working in German universities do not have any children. Specifically, there is a recognizable increase in the number of male, junior academics who have no children. There is presently a deficit as to how much is known about the actual number of children in households of academics, as well as regarding the conditional factors of generative decisions within an academic context.
A common assumption exists that the incompatibility of science and motherhood is a structural problem and that, in many cases, it is responsible for the inequality of promotion prospects of females as compared to their male counterparts in academia. However, no convincing evidence for this simplified causal attribution exists. Studies are more likely to refer to the high level of motivation and efficiency of female academics with children.
Independent of this, female academics in Germany, who do have children, see themselves confronted with special problems related to balancing these two aspects of their lives. Even male academics, who in viewing their social roles as fathers, or as a part of a dual-career couple, deviate from the traditional norms, receive comparatively less support from extant structures in Germany than in other countries which also entails possible disadvantages related to the progress and trajectory of their career.
The project "Balancing Academia and Parenthood" (BAWIE) is aimed at finding out what underlies the relevant individual decision-making processes and organizational structures at German universities which abet or impede meshing academic work with familial responsibility.
The study is to be conducted at the Center of Excellence Women and Science CEWS by the researcher Tanja Banavas and Kathrin Samjeske. Dr. Inken Lind is project manager and funding for the project is to be provided by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)).
