University academics, family politics and ‘the egalitarian discourse’

Studies focusing on university academics tend to show considerable gender differences defining workplace opportunities and career trajectories as well as gender inequalities experienced in domestic settings. In South Africa, mothering and social reproductive activities usually delay women's achievements in the teaching and publishing arenas and influence various postponements and interruptions of academic careers. Woman academics often have to struggle against pressures demanding the primacy of ‘motherhood’ and ‘wifehood’ and the relegation of ‘scholar’ to a subordinate place. This briefing is based on a qualitative study of 13 young academics at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, who, whilst they articulate egalitarian ideas, struggle to realise co-parenting and shared responsibilities in practice. Consequently, the constraints of domesticity reconfigure and impact on working lives.