A Phenomenological Study of the Perinatal Experiences That Shape Women Faculty’s Identity in Higher Education

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 9:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Marginalized Identities in Higher Education (Table 10)

Abstract

This qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study aimed to understand the meaning women faculty in academia in the United States ascribe to their perinatal experiences and how these experiences affect the development and integration of their academic and maternal identities as faculty in higher education. Among the study’s findings, crucial implications included the need participants had for supportive institutional policies during the perinatal period that recognized the dynamic changes that occur in one's identity of becoming a mother, in addition to recognizing the human capital mothers bring to the academy.

Author

• Elizabeth DeBolt, Liberty University