BOF: Mommies know best: Continuing the Discussion onPregnancy and Graduate School
Alexandra Holloway Caitlin SadowskiUniversity of California, Santa CruzSanta Cruz, CA 95064
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@soe.ucsc.eduLaurian VegaVirginia TechBlacksburg, Virginia 24060laurian@vt.edu
1 Introduction
The Grace Hopper conference celebrates all women incomputer science. However, the many women who at-tend this conference fill more roles that just the role of acomputer scientist. They are also mothers, grandmothers,sisters, wives, and daughters. In this proposal we discussthe important role of motherhood in particular referenceto its impact on young computer science academics andbeyond.In order to achieve true gender equality within theworkforce of STEM fields, and in particular the work-force of academia, we need to also have mother equal-ity. A known problem is that mothers in STEM fieldsface the “motherhood penalty” [1]: mothers are presentedwith fewer professional development opportunities, haveweaker social networks, and face increasing demands forwork-life balance. For example, within particular demo-graphics, the pay gap between mothers and non-mothersis larger than the pay gap between women and men [2].However, this difference does not extend to men: fathersdo not make less than non-fathers. Negative stereotypesabout working mothers, but not about working fathers,also make it particularly challenging to pursue both moth-erhood and a career. Mothers are rated as less compe-tent and committed to paid work than nonmothers [1]; thischaracterization again does not extend to fathers.The challenges of combining a career in science withmotherhood have been expanded upon in a recent book of essays [8], as well as numerous research papers: see,for example [4, 9]. In a survey of approximately 450scientists and engineers employed at research universi-ties, more than 70% cited balancing career with familyas the most significant challenge facing their career ad-vancement [9]. In fact, in the UK, women who have sci-ence or engineering degrees and have school-age childrenare less likely to be working than women with other de-grees [4]. These examples demonstrate that the effect of motherhood on a career is of particular salience to STEMfields.Similarly, the challenges of combining a career inacademia with motherhood have been expanded upon ina recent book of essays [3] as well as numerous researchpapers: see, for example [7, 9, 6]. Much of the difficultywith academia and motherhood is due to the fact that theyears spent working long hours on acquiring tenure co-incide with the years when it makes the most biologi-cal sense to have children. It is difficult to re-enter thepipeline once a woman drops out of the academic work-force [7, 6].The thing that is particularly disparaging about thesechallenges is their inequity; children provide a benefitfor men and a penalty for women. For example, menwith young babies are 38% more likely than women withyoung babies to achieve tenure [7]. Perhaps a partial rea-son for this is differences is the social expectations aboutwho will care for children. In a survey of more than4,400 faculty in the University of California system, itwas found that women with children spend almost twiceas many hours per week acting as caregivers than men [7].Taken together, all of these statistics present a daunt-ing picture for a women thinking or starting to ventureinto motherhood. However, universities and organizationsare taking some steps to improve the position of womenwho want to combine motherhood with a career in sci-ence. Part-time and stop-the-clock tenure-track optionsare becoming more popular [5]. A 2004 survey of Ger-man postdocs found that there was
not
a difference in sci-entific productivity between scientist mothers and femalescientistnon-mothers[5]. InBritain, DaphneJacksonFel-lowships help female scientists return to the pipeline aftertaking a leave of absence [5].In this proposal we present a panel of women who willdiscuss their highly relevant and recent issues of enteringinto motherhood. At a conference that values and cele-brates the multifaceted nature of its participants, a discus-1
sion of the impact of motherhood on careers and work-lifebalance is necessary. This topic has been shown to be of value at Grace Hopper. Our session will build on this pre-vious success, continue the disucssion, and explore withthe participants of of the Birds of a Feather audience thesteps to continue our discussion virtually.
2 Audience
Based on the very active discussion at similar sessions inboth both the 2008 and 2009 Grace Hopper conferences,we believe that this topic is of deep interest to a varietyof attendees. At the 2009 Grace Hopper conference, the“Baby Loading” session had a large attendance: 60 mem-bers ranging from people who had already had children topeople who were considering it. Motherhood is a cross-cutting concern for women spanning economic, religious,and cultural groups.
3 Format
One aim of this session is for the decision to both havechildren and pursue a career in computing, particularly inthe overworked areas of academia and research labs, tonot be an isolating experience. This session will be orga-nized around a discussion session with the audience; wewould like audience members to share their own storiesand experiences. Furthermore, we will be creating a mail-ing list focused on mothers in computing to continue thediscussion.This hour-long session will begin with a brief overviewof research touching on motherhood and careers in sci-ence, particularly focused on academia, as outlined in thisproposal. We will then transition to the panel-led discus-sion. In previous years, the audience contained a goodmix of women who had children and women who wereconsidering having children. Questions will be addressedto panel members, and then to the audience; audiencemembers may also ask questions. Here is a sample of the starter questions to foster discussion:
•
What are maternity benefits to expect and fight for?
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Is a “better” time to have a child: graduate school orearly career?
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What are some strategies for handling childcare?
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How can career goals and research focuses changeafter having a child?
•
What advice do you have for women consideringpregnancy in graduate school?
4 People
Caitlin Sadowski (Moderator)
Caitlin Sadowski is aPh.D. student in Programming Languages at the Univer-sity of California, Santa Cruz. Her research previously fo-cused on dynamic analyses for concurrency bugs, but hascurrently become side-tracked by trying to figure out howto get more women interested in computing. After dis-covering how many women and how few men drop out of the STEM pipeline due to trouble with balancing a careerand family, she developed a research interest in mothersin computing.
Alexandra Holloway (Panel)
Alexandra is a Ph.D. stu-dent in Human-Computer Interaction at the Universityof California, Santa Cruz and the mother of Leon (14months). Her dedication to both babies and computing ex-tends to her research: she is currently developing a birth-partner training game.
Laurian Vega (Panel)
Laurian is a Ph.D. candidatein Human-Computer Interaction at Virginia Tech andmummy of semi-planned Cameron (19 months). She re-searches trust in the design of software and is a memberof the Association for Women in Computing and Systers.She is now working full time with Cameron in daycare.
Mara Silva (Panel)
Mara is a PhD candidate in Com-puter Science at Virginia Tech where she researches body-based interaction techniques for desktop games. Mara re-ceived a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering fromUNICAMP, Brazil in 2000. Mara is a member of LatinasinComputing, TheAssociationforWomeninComputing,and Systers. Her first child is 11 months old.
Ann-Marie Horcher (Panel)
Ann-Marie is a Ph.D stu-dent in Information Systems Security at Nova Southeast-ern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida and the motherof two. Her daughters, Kate-Alice and Monica were borneleven years apart while she was working full-time in ITat a chemical company. As a result, the experiences wereeach a challenges due to both her age and the differentstages of her career.
Sadaf Alam (Panel)
Sadaf is a scientist and a task leadat the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre. She startedher PhD program at the University of Edinburgh when herson was about a year old, followed by post-doc and staff positions at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She isinvolved in education and outreach activities in the highlygender imbalanced supercomputing field.2
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Baby Reloading
The Grace Hopper conference celebrates all women in computer science. However, the many women who attend this conference fill more roles that just the role of a computer scientist. They are also mothers, grandmothers, sisters, wives,…
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