Single parenthood shaped by and reshaping academic STEM

Nonlinear career paths and diverse family arrangements are increasingly common, yet academic structures continue to privilege uninterrupted productivity, mobility and linear progression. This integrative review examines how academic structures may affect single and solo parents in STEM and is accompanied by an exploratory pilot survey of 48 parents and carers working or studying in Australian academic STEM. This survey provides preliminary contextual insights and identifies gaps requiring further research. Survey responses echoed established concerns about research-output expectations, travel, career interruption, access to childcare and the uneven implementation of workplace flexibility. Recruitment also exposed the limited institutional visibility of single and solo parents, who aren’t routinely identifiable within university workforce data. The paper argues that parenting inequities occur across academia but may be intensified in some STEM contexts by mobility expectations, laboratory or fieldwork requirements, grant dependency, precarious employment and long-hours cultures. It concludes that further interview and longitudinal research is required and that universities should focus on making existing support measures visible, consistently accessible and subject to monitoring.