This article explores male and female academics' perceptions of what it means to be both a parent and an academic and the relations between them. Based on an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of interviews with 35 academics from a university in England, findings suggest that the way in which academics experience being both a parent and an academic depends upon how they understand the meaning of each of these two roles and what they are trying to achieve within them. These meanings and experiences also appear to differ by gender. Ways in which higher education can offer more targeted and specific support to academic mothers in particular are discussed.