Reading 'Parenthood and academia—escaping incompatibility'
An event in cooperation with the Office of Family Services
Last autumn, the University of Bonn achieved its goal of filling 30% of all appointments with female professors. This is an important milestone on the road to parity, but there will still be hurdles to overcome in the future: together we want to look at structural barriers that make it difficult for women with children in particular to pursue a successful academic career and discuss solutions. Dr Sarah Czerney and Dr Lena Eckert from the Mutterschaft & Wissenschaft (Motherhood and Science) network will present the key points from their books ‘Mutterschaft und Wissenschaft. Die (Un-) Vereinbarkeit von Mutterbild und wissenschaftlicher Tätigkeit’ (2020) and ’Mutterschaft und Wissenschaft in der Pandemie. Unvereinbarkeit zwischen Kindern, Care und Krise’ (2022).
Registration and time period
Date and time
Monday, 26 May 2025
6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Location
DigiHub
Am Hauptbahnhof 6
53111 Bonn
Room: San Francisco
The event will take place digitally and in person. When registering, you can indicate whether you would like to attend the event in person or digitally and will then receive the Zoom link.
Registration
Please register until May 11.
Contents of the reading
Despite decades of efforts to promote women and equal opportunity in academia, the leaky pipeline has still not been plugged and the glass ceiling has not been broken. Over 70 percent of professorships in Germany are still held by men, while more women work part-time and face greater disadvantages due to the gender pay gap, pension gaps and exclusion from male-dominated networks. These inequalities are further reinforced by the maternal wall, i.e. the barriers that female researchers encounter when they become mothers. There is also the general suspicion that individuals perceived as female might prioritize children over their career at some point—even if they do not want or are unable to have any.
What solutions and support systems can be put in place in this situation for mothers in academia? What options do universities have to counteract the increased dropout rates of mothers? In addition to analyzing the current situation with regard to 'compatibility', Dr. Sarah Czerney and Dr. Lena Eckert from 'Netzwerk Mutterschaft & Wissenschaft' intend to discuss these questions and present examples of good practice from all over Germany and Austria.
Dr Sarah Czerney
Dr Sarah Czerney is a media and cultural scientist, co-founder of the nationwide network Motherhood and Science and a systemic consultant (in further education, DGSF). She is currently working on a project on motherhood and science at the Saxony-Anhalt Coordination Centre for Gender Research and Equal Opportunities. She is co-editor of the books ‘Motherhood and science. The (in)compatibility of motherhood and academia’ (Springer 2020) and ’Motherhood and academia during the pandemic. (Dis)compatibility between children, care and crisis’ (Budrich 2022). In her publications, workshops, lectures and consultations, she deals primarily with the topics of equal opportunity with a focus on motherhood and parenthood in science, feminist critique of science, feminist motherhood and equal parenthood.
Dr Lena Eckert
Dr Lena Eckert is a gender scientist specialising in media, education and writing research. She is the founder and managing director of icp - institute for critique and practice in Berlin. Together with Dr Sarah Czerney, she founded the Network Motherhood and Science in 2021. Her research focuses on the critique of power relations in science, culture and society. As a speaker and author, her current focus is on motherhood and unpaid care work. She also works as a coach and consultant on the topics of compatibility, diversity and academic writing.
Contact und Organization
Ruth Ellen Bischoff
Dechenstraße 3-11
53115 Bonn
Julia Lindenberg
Dechenstraße 3-11
53115 Bonn