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BOF: Mommies know best: Continuing the Discussion on

Pregnancy and Graduate School

Alexandra Holloway Caitlin Sadowski

University of California, Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz, CA 95064

{fire, supertri}@soe.ucsc.edu

Laurian Vega

Virginia Tech

Blacksburg, Virginia 24060

laurian@vt.edu

1 Introduction

The Grace Hopper conference celebrates all women in

computer science. However, the many women who at-

tend this conference fill more roles that just the role of a

computer scientist. They are also mothers, grandmothers,sisters, wives, and daughters. In this proposal we discuss

the important role of motherhood in particular reference

to its impact on young computer science academics and

beyond.

In order to achieve true gender equality within the

workforce 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 fields

face the motherhood penalty [1]: mothers are presented

with fewer professional development opportunities, have

weaker social networks, and face increasing demands for

work-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: fathers

do not make less than non-fathers. Negative stereotypes

about 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]; this

characterization again does not extend to fathers.

The challenges of combining a career in science with

motherhood 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 450

scientists and engineers employed at research universi-

ties, more than 70% cited balancing career with family

as 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 children

are 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 STEM

fields.

Similarly, the challenges of combining a career in

academia with motherhood have been expanded upon in

a recent book of essays [3] as well as numerous research

papers: see, for example [7, 9, 6]. Much of the difficultywith academia and motherhood is due to the fact that the

years 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 the

pipeline once a woman drops out of the academic work-

force [7, 6].

The thing that is particularly disparaging about these

challenges is their inequity; children provide a benefit

for men and a penalty for women. For example, men

with young babies are 38% more likely than women with

young babies to achieve tenure [7]. Perhaps a partial rea-

son for this is differences is the social expectations about

who will care for children. In a survey of more than4,400 faculty in the University of California system, it

was found that women with children spend almost twice

as 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 venture

into motherhood. However, universities and organizations

are taking some steps to improve the position of women

who want to combine motherhood with a career in sci-

ence. Part-time and stop-the-clock tenure-track options

are becoming more popular [5]. A 2004 survey of Ger-

man postdocs found that there was nota difference in sci-

entific productivity between scientist mothers and female

scientist non-mothers [5]. In Britain, Daphne Jackson Fel-

lowships help female scientists return to the pipeline after

taking a leave of absence [5].

In this proposal we present a panel of women who will

discuss their highly relevant and recent issues of entering

into motherhood. At a conference that values and cele-

brates the multifaceted nature of its participants, a discus-

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sion of the impact of motherhood on careers and work-life

balance 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 with

the participants of of the Birds of a Feather audience the

steps to continue our discussion virtually.

2 Audience

Based on the very active discussion at similar sessions in

both both the 2008 and 2009 Grace Hopper conferences,

we believe that this topic is of deep interest to a variety

of 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 to

people 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 have

children and pursue a career in computing, particularly in

the overworked areas of academia and research labs, to

not be an isolating experience. This session will be orga-

nized around a discussion session with the audience; we

would like audience members to share their own stories

and experiences. Furthermore, we will be creating a mail-

ing list focused on mothers in computing to continue the

discussion.

This hour-long session will begin with a brief overview

of research touching on motherhood and careers in sci-

ence, particularly focused on academia, as outlined in this

proposal. We will then transition to the panel-led discus-

sion. In previous years, the audience contained a good

mix of women who had children and women who were

considering having children. Questions will be addressed

to panel members, and then to the audience; audience

members may also ask questions. Here is a sample of

the starter questions to foster discussion:

What are maternity benefits to expect and fight for?

Is a better time to have a child: graduate school or

early career? What are some strategies for handling childcare?

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 a

Ph.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 has

currently 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 career

and family, she developed a research interest in mothers

in computing.

Alexandra Holloway (Panel) Alexandra is a Ph.D. stu-

dent in Human-Computer Interaction at the University

of California, Santa Cruz and the mother of Leon (14

months). 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. candidate

in Human-Computer Interaction at Virginia Tech and

mummy of semi-planned Cameron (19 months). She re-

searches trust in the design of software and is a member

of 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 Bachelors degree in Computer Engineering from

UNICAMP, Brazil in 2000. Mara is a member of Latinasin Computing, The Association for Women in Computing,

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 mother

of two. Her daughters, Kate-Alice and Monica were born

eleven years apart while she was working full-time in IT

at a chemical company. As a result, the experiences were

each a challenges due to both her age and the different

stages of her career.

Sadaf Alam (Panel) Sadaf is a scientist and a task lead

at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre. She started

her PhD program at the University of Edinburgh when her

son was about a year old, followed by post-doc and staff

positions at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She is

involved in education and outreach activities in the highly

gender imbalanced supercomputing field.

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References

[1] S. Correll, S. Benard, and I. Paik. Getting a Job: Is

There a Motherhood Penalty? American Journal of

Sociology, 112(5):12971338, 2007.

[2] A. Crittenden. The price of motherhood: Why the

most important job in the world is still the least val-

ued. Metropolitan Books, 2001.

[3] E. Evans and C. Grant, editors. Mama, PhD: Women

Write About Motherhood and Academic Life. Rutgers

University Press, 2008.

[4] G. Gehring. Mixing motherhood and science. Physics

World, 15(3):1819, 2002.

[5] V. Gewin. Baby blues. Nature, 433:780781, 2005.

[6] M. Mason and M. Goulden. Do Babies Matter (Part

II)? Closing the Baby Gap. Academe, November-

December, 2004.

[7] M. Mason and M. Goulden. Marriage and baby blues:

Redefining gender equity in the academy. The Annals

of the American Academy of Political and Social Sci-

ence, 596(1):86, 2004.

[8] E. Monosson, editor. Motherhood, The Elephant in

the Laboratory: Women Scientists Speak Out. Cornell

University Press, 2008.

[9] S. V. Rosser and M. Z. Taylor. Expanding Womens

Participation in US Science. Global Education, 30(3),

2008.

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