Despite women outnumbering men as doctoral degree recipients, women remain underrepresented in higher education leadership roles. Specifically, women at the childbearing age serving as faculty often face challenges such as inadequate maternity leave and family policies that impede pathways for tenure, promotion, and elevation to senior…

What does it say about American society that the birth of a child can put a family on a path to poverty that can take years--even decades--to escape? It says things are terribly out of whack-- that policies do not reflect true priorities as a nation, perhaps because the political system is in such disrepair. The national failure to adopt…

There are good reasons to suspect that the transition parents go through when having their second child may be different from when having their first, yet these differences remain understudied. This study focuses on one specific area of possible divergence by looking at how first-time versus second-time mothers decide on maternity leave length. To…

This preliminary study examined the effects of the Family Leave Act of 1993 on the maternity leave experiences of women in academe, as well as the effect of pregnancy leave on their career decisions. Case study interviews were conducted with seven women faculty from four universities, and family leave policies at these institutions were reviewed.…

Analysis of 82 court cases involving pregnancy discrimination, 1972-91, shows that this litigation revealed the gender bias of equal employment opportunity law and capitalist economic relations, eroded assumptions about economic imperatives for not accommodating pregnant workers, and laid the groundwork for the Family and Medical Leave Act of…