Sustaining Women’s Work in Higher Education: Fostering Interdependency, Growth and Development.
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Women’s Issues, Status, and Education
Presentation Format Requested
Roundtable (45 minutes)
Session Abstract
Our purpose is to discuss new and innovative ways that allow women professors to grow and develop in their roles as faculty members; to rethink what it means to sustain work life balance in an academic community.
Target Audience
Sustaining work-life balance as faculty members can be complex. We have chosen to focus on women faculty members with the intent that our concerns and mission will help all groups who experience challenges in balancing their work and personal lives. Therefore, the targeted audience would include, but not limited to, women in academia, women from various generations, and at various developmental stages, tenure track and tenured faculty, and males who have a vested interest in such topic.
Learning Outcomes
Learning outcomes include identifying the problems faced by women faculty members in succeeding in their roles, understanding women’s developmental theory, generational differences, interdependency between individual and institutional values, and acknowledging different ways to think about issues related to work-life balance in academia.
How do institutions of higher education provide support or place impediments for success on women professors? For example, what are the unique pressures faced by faculty members who are mothers as they work towards tenure and promotion? Finally, how do women professors sustain their own personal and professional growth and development given the institutional demands placed on them?
Session Description
Women faculty members face many challenges, among them maintaining a healthy work-life balance. We have chosen to focus on women faculty members with the intent that our discussion will help all groups who experience challenges in balancing their professional and personal lives.
In this session, we will examine the research and literature focused on women faculty members from a human development lens, focusing on the developmental stages of women in relationship to work and life balance. A critical examination, across generations, may also provide a better understanding of issues faced and healthy approaches to the challenge of work-life balance. We believe this discussion of career sustainability, from the perspective of women faculty members, is essential to understand how they move through shared academic spaces and its impact on their growth and development.
Format & Technique
Our session will be conducted by two women faculty members, of different generations, and career stages. We will provide objectives and intended outcomes with participants, and also encourage roundtable participants to create a list of potential discussion topics. Participants will be asked to share key insights they gained and possible action(s) to achieve and maintain career sustainability as well as healthy work life balance.