Early Career Researchers’ Experiences of Post-Maternity and Parental Leave Provision in UK Politics and International Studies Departments: A Heads of Department and Early Career Researcher Survey
| Published date | 01 February 2021 |
| Author | Sadiya Akram,Zoe Pflaeger Young |
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929920910363 |
| Date | 01 February 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Special Issue: Gender in the Profession |
910363PSW0010.1177/1478929920910363Political Studies ReviewAkram and Young
research-article2020
Special Issue Article
Political Studies Review
2021, Vol. 19(1) 58 –74
Early Career Researchers’
© The Author(s) 2020
Experiences of Post-Maternity
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and Parental Leave Provision
https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929920910363
DOI: 10.1177/1478929920910363
journals.sagepub.com/home/psrev
in UK Politics and International
Studies Departments: A Heads
of Department and Early
Career Researcher Survey
Sadiya Akram1 and Zoe Pflaeger Young2
Abstract
Supporting increasing equality and diversity in the recruitment and retention of Early Career
Researchers from the widest pool of talent available is high on the agenda of universities
and policy makers. Notwithstanding this, the demanding nature of academic careers has a
disproportionate effect on Early Career Researchers, who may face indirect obstacles in
their career development particularly following a period of maternity or parental leave. Our
research seeks to expose the nexus of challenges, from job insecurity to the pressures of
raising new families that Early Career Researchers face during this critical juncture in their
career trajectory. Focusing on Politics and International Studies Departments in the United
Kingdom, we document the institutional mechanisms that exist to support Early Career
Researchers returning from maternity and parental leave through a Heads of Department
and an Early Career Researcher survey to gain an understanding of needs and the impact
of institutional measures. Adopting a feminist institutionalist analysis, we map gendered
outcomes in the university, through formal and informal rules, which mitigate against those
Early Career Researchers taking maternity and parental leave. We end by identifying specific
measures which would help to ensure that the university is more supportive of Early Career
Researchers taking maternity and parental leave.
Keywords
gender, politics, Early Career Researchers, maternity leave, parental leave
Accepted: 12 February 2020
1Department of History, Politics and Philosophy, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK
2Department of Politics, People and Place, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK
Corresponding author:
Sadiya Akram, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M15 6BH, UK.
Email: s.akram@mmu.ac.uk
Akram and Young
59
Introduction
Scholarly interest in the university has burgeoned in recent years and has benefitted from
the insights of new institutionalism. Adopting a new institutionalist perspective means
accepting that the university is not a stable essence but is a series of processes or prac-
tices, which need to be explained. In this article, we document and explicate the institu-
tional mechanisms which exist to support Early Career Researchers (ECRs) returning
from maternity or parental leave. We do this by presenting two perspectives: the institu-
tional perspective as represented by a Heads of Department (HoD) survey and the ECR’s
experience of support as captured in an ECR survey. In doing so, we aim to show what
support exists and also what is missing and the effects of gaps in support. We adopt a
feminist institutionalist perspective because this reveals how gender is sustained and
embedded within the university to ensure differential gendered outcomes. It is widely
accepted that women are the primary takers of maternity and parental leave; hence, provi-
sion in this area disproportionately affects women. We aim to contribute to the emerging
literature on the interplay between formal and informal institutions. In the context of
myriad formal policies relating to gender equality in the university, through our empirical
research, we make visible a series of informal practices relating to ECRs and maternity
and parental leave. While there is an emerging literature on maternity and parental leave
practices and the university, we argue that ECRs have been neglected in this debate but
represent a crucial subgroup of academic staff who experience a unique series of chal-
lenges, ranging from job insecurity to the pressures of raising new families during a criti-
cal juncture in their career trajectory.
The article is structured as follows: first, we discuss gender inequality in higher educa-
tion to provide context to this debate. We then outline our theoretical framework drawing
on feminist institutionalism. The third section specifies the formal policy context, which
frames this debate. In the fourth section, we discuss questions of methodology, while the
fifth section presents our research findings before moving on to the ‘Discussion’ section.
The article concludes with a future agenda outlining policy recommendations. First, we
define what we mean by an ECR.
Defining an ECR
An ECR is a member of staff at the beginning of their academic career, although there is
no single definition. UK Research Councils and funding bodies tend to define an ECR in
terms of length of time since completion of a doctorate, with a range extending from 3 to
10 years. For example, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships are open to those
within 3 years of the award of a doctorate and Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowships
to those within 4 years of submitting their doctoral thesis. In both cases, extenuating cir-
cumstances may now be given to those who have taken a career break due to illness or
parental/caregiving duties. The Arts and Humanities Research Council’s (AHRC) formal
definition of an ECR is an individual within 8 years of the award of their PhD and the
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has recently overhauled the way it sup-
ports ECRs, recognising three distinct ECR stages. So, there is little consensus on who or
what classifies as an ECR within the academic community, although there is increasing
recognition that this period may be prolonged due to exceptional circumstances and that
previous definitions may have been overly rigid.
For the purpose of this research, we have included ECRs up to 7 years of being awarded
their doctorate. The ‘early career’ stage can often assume steady employment and
60
Political Studies Review 19(1)
continuous research and professional development, with a transition to postdoctoral
researcher or a permanent lectureship. However, this does not always reflect the lived
experience of many ECRs, especially those who combine the challenges of early career
development with the caring responsibilities of children (Bosanquet, 2017: 73). As we are
interested in those ECRs who have experienced a period of maternity or parental leave,
we adopt 7 years to incorporate those who may have taken extended periods of time out
from their career development.
As argued by Thwaites and Pressland, the term ‘early career’ is contested in higher
education and is laden with politics. Especially in the current context of the increasing
neoliberalisation of university management and the casualisation of the workforce, the
title comes with particular expectations, but often little benefit or prestige (Thwaites and
Pressland, 2017: 8). We draw on, and contribute to, a growing field of cross-disciplinary
research, which focuses on the experiences of ERCs in the university. Laudel and Gläser
(2008) highlight the transition phase that occurs as ECRs manage the shift from appren-
tice to colleague, while White (2006) highlights that the transition phase is experienced
differently by the genders and that a ‘leaky pipeline exists’ for women as they tend to
enter academia at lower levels or in casual positions; focus on teaching rather than
research; and, due to under-representation at middle levels, do not achieve a critical mass
in senior academia (see also Ackers and Gill, 2005). There has also been increased atten-
tion paid to the growing casualisation of the academic labour force and experiences of
precarity, which is particularly acute among ECRs (Lopes and Dewan, 2014; Standing,
2015; University and College Union (UCU), 2016). While there is a growing focus on
ECRs and the gendered experience of early career academia, there has been limited atten-
tion paid to date to ECRs and the challenges they face when returning to academic careers
following maternity or parental leave.
Gender Inequality in Higher Education
There is a growing body of work concerned with gender inequality in higher education
institutions (HEIs). Our research is concerned with understanding the ways in which
these issues may be particularly acute among ECRs combining this challenging point in
their career with parenthood. Existing research has documented gender pay gaps and the
under-representation of women in senior positions, the ‘chilly’ institutional climate that
women face as well as the gendered cultures and systematic gendered barriers experi-
enced in universities (Allen and Savigny, 2016; Bates et al., 2012; Bird, 2011; Henehan
and Sarkees, 2009; Savigny, 2014). Within the extant literature on ECRs, there is increased
recognition that female ECRs experience a unique set of challenges and are more likely
to face barriers in completing their postgraduate study and establishing their academic
careers due to a lack of supportive environments, a lack of mentoring as well as increased
likelihood of being trapped in teaching heavy roles (Ackers and Gill, 2005; Crabb and
Ekberg, 2014; White, 2006). Research has also explored the challenges of combining
...
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