A new study suggests that “motivation and the ability to network have a far greater impact on research productivity than age, gender, job satisfaction, managerial support or teaching load.” This comes as good news. I have been reading a lot lately about women in academia, and the unique challenges that professor-moms face (you can read about the academic gender gap here, here, and here). I call this study good news because it means that there are factors “above gender” that impact a person’s success in academia. It seems that the key is staying connected with the academic community by going to conferences and reviewing articles. I can already see how this motivates a person to research and write. At conferences, for example, I’m often inspired to add my voice to the conversation, and I come home more motivated than usual to write.
Now, while I see this study as good news, I can also see how working moms still struggle for promotions at research institutions. Maternity leave seriously limits a woman’s ability to “network” for a time. When the woman returns to work, it might be difficult for her to travel to conferences now that she has a child. Her ability to travel will depend on her access to child care, her partner’s level of involvement with the child, and her financial resources. So, if the woman is the primary caregiver, she will still face unique challenges, but I appreciate how this study identifies concrete success factors that I can focus on as I move forward in my career. If colleges and universities want to retain and promote talented moms, they should work diligently to help them network through, for example, conference funding. I know funding is limited across the board these days, but if networking is key to productivity, it seems like that investment would pay off in the end.
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