“Nobody Was Advocating for Me”: Academic Mothers’ Experiences Navigating Institutional Leave Policies

• In Event: Academic Mothers

Abstract

This presentation highlights a qualitative study that explored academic mothers' experiences navigating institutional childbirth-related leave policies. The authors interviewed academic mothers who gave birth while employed as full-time faculty at U.S. higher education institutions. Using a feminist narrative methodology, participating mothers story their encounters with leave policies at their respective institutions. The analysis reveals how mothers navigated fragmented information, unclear procedures, and poor communication between academic affairs and HR offices. Despite institutions having policies, it was the enactment of policies that was often ineffective. Academic mothers consistently storied experiences of confusion and frustration as they navigated systems not designed to accommodate them. Successful navigation depended on mothers' individual advocacy, supportive administrators, and mothers’ ability to creatively work around systemic failures.

Authors

• Kelly W. Guyotte, University of Alabama

• Diana Quito, Rollins College

• Venus Trevae Watson, University of Alabama