Reading 'Parenthood and academia—escaping incompatibility'
An event in cooperation with the Office of Family Services
Last year, the University of Bonn has achieved its target of increasing the percentage of female professors to 30 percent. This is an important milestone towards parity, which is to be further pursued. Therefore, it remains important to overcome the obstacles that still affect the compatibility of family and academia. Together, we would like to shine a light on structural barriers and discuss possible solutions. Dr. Sarah Czerney and Dr. Lena Eckert from 'Netzwerk Mutterschaft & Wissenschaft' will present the key points from their books 'Mutterschaft und Wissenschaft' (2020) and 'Mutterschaft und Wissenschaft in der Pandemie' (2022) as part of a reading and a workshop.
Registration and dates
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
This is a hybrid event. 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 by 11 May.
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 and Organization
Ruth Ellen Bischoff
Dechenstraße 3-11
53115 Bonn
Julia Lindenberg
Dechenstraße 3-11
53115 Bonn