“I am willing to do both well”: Chinese academic mothers facing tension in family and career
Academic mothers perform intersected roles. They carry out their profession in workplaces, while they take the “second shift” of motherhood back to their families. The contested expectations in family and career built by the heterosexual matrix cause tension to academic mothers. We qualitatively inv...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.973110/full |
| _version_ | 1798045755271806976 |
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| author | Li Bao Li Bao Guanghua Wang Guanghua Wang |
| author_facet | Li Bao Li Bao Guanghua Wang Guanghua Wang |
| author_sort | Li Bao |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Academic mothers perform intersected roles. They carry out their profession in workplaces, while they take the “second shift” of motherhood back to their families. The contested expectations in family and career built by the heterosexual matrix cause tension to academic mothers. We qualitatively investigate the interview data of six Chinese women academics on how they perform to negotiate their motherhood and academic work in the context of Chinese higher education, driven by the Butlerian theoretical concept of the heterosexual matrix. The findings suggest that Chinese academic mothers play a zero-sum game between being mothers and being academics, deriving from their ontological responsibilities of motherhood. We conclude that in the masculine academia, these women academics help maintain the heterosexual matrix by satisfying the gender normativity when they negotiate their performances in their family and career; meanwhile, most have developed some strategies to achieve their career advancement. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T23:26:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1520874497814b63a38ecab9d208b86e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T23:26:14Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-1520874497814b63a38ecab9d208b86e2022-12-22T03:57:18ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-11-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.973110973110“I am willing to do both well”: Chinese academic mothers facing tension in family and careerLi Bao0Li Bao1Guanghua Wang2Guanghua Wang3School of Sociology and Population Studies, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, ChinaFaculty of Education and Social Work, University of Auckland, Auckland, New ZealandInternational Programs and Services, Shanghai Normal University Tianhua College, Shanghai, ChinaSchool of Education, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, United KingdomAcademic mothers perform intersected roles. They carry out their profession in workplaces, while they take the “second shift” of motherhood back to their families. The contested expectations in family and career built by the heterosexual matrix cause tension to academic mothers. We qualitatively investigate the interview data of six Chinese women academics on how they perform to negotiate their motherhood and academic work in the context of Chinese higher education, driven by the Butlerian theoretical concept of the heterosexual matrix. The findings suggest that Chinese academic mothers play a zero-sum game between being mothers and being academics, deriving from their ontological responsibilities of motherhood. We conclude that in the masculine academia, these women academics help maintain the heterosexual matrix by satisfying the gender normativity when they negotiate their performances in their family and career; meanwhile, most have developed some strategies to achieve their career advancement.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.973110/fullChinese academic motherscareer advancementheterosexual matrixgender binarynormativitywomen academics |
| spellingShingle | Li Bao Li Bao Guanghua Wang Guanghua Wang “I am willing to do both well”: Chinese academic mothers facing tension in family and career Frontiers in Psychology Chinese academic mothers career advancement heterosexual matrix gender binary normativity women academics |
| title | “I am willing to do both well”: Chinese academic mothers facing tension in family and career |
| title_full | “I am willing to do both well”: Chinese academic mothers facing tension in family and career |
| title_fullStr | “I am willing to do both well”: Chinese academic mothers facing tension in family and career |
| title_full_unstemmed | “I am willing to do both well”: Chinese academic mothers facing tension in family and career |
| title_short | “I am willing to do both well”: Chinese academic mothers facing tension in family and career |
| title_sort | i am willing to do both well chinese academic mothers facing tension in family and career |
| topic | Chinese academic mothers career advancement heterosexual matrix gender binary normativity women academics |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.973110/full |
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