The COVID-19 pandemic clearly reveals what was already visible before: We are far from gender equality; the impacts of COVID-19, such as school and daycare closures, were and are primarily borne on the shoulders of mothers*. This gender care gap is also noticeable in academia: While male academics have been publishing at an above-average rate since the beginning of the pandemic, publications by mothers* in academia have declined sharply. This also applies to the acquisition of third-party funding, the development of new research projects, and conference attendance.
In their two books “Mutterschaft und Wissenschaft. Die (Un-)Vereinbarkeit von Mutterbild und wissenschaftlicher Tätigkeit” (2020) and “Mutterschaft und Wissenschaft in der Pandemie. Die (Un-)Vereinbarkeit zwischen Kindern, Care und Krise” (2022), editors Sarah Czerney, Lena Eckert, and Silke Martin compile personal accounts of the special challenges that mothers* in academia face in general and during the COVID-19 pandemic in particular.

With a reading, Dr. Sarah Czerney and Dr. Lena Eckert provide insight into their two books. In the subsequent discussion, we invite you all to explore the tension between motherhood and academia together with the editors. Your personal experiences, specific challenges, and ideas for better compatibility of motherhood and academia at JGU are explicitly welcome!

Preview of the book “Mutterschaft und Wissenschaft. Die (Un-)Vereinbarkeit von Mutterbild und wissenschaftlicher Tätigkeit” at: www.springer.com/de/book/9783658309312

Preview of the book “Mutterschaft und Wissenschaft in der Pandemie. (Un-)Vereinbarkeit zwischen Kindern, Care und Krise” at: https://shop.budrich.de/produkt/mutterschaft-und-wissenschaft-in-der-pandemie/

The network founded by the editors, which brings together mothers and allies in academia, can be found here: https://www.mutterschaft-wissenschaft.de/

Interview in taz: https://taz.de/Wissenschaftlerinnen-ueber-Mutterschaft/!5867136/

Sarah Czerney, Ph.D., currently works as a research associate in the gender equality project FEM POWER at the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology in Magdeburg. She studied European Media Culture and received her doctorate from Goethe University Frankfurt/M. in 2018. In addition to practical gender equality work, her focus is on feminist theory and science criticism, motherhood and academia, as well as equal parenting and feminist motherhood. She has two sons and lives with her family in Magdeburg.

Lena Eckert, Ph.D., is a gender studies scholar as well as a writing and education researcher. She lives with her family in Berlin and works as an academic staff member at the ZLL – Center for Teaching and Learning at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder). Her research focuses on the critique of power and domination relationships in higher education and society. She is particularly interested in the structuring of society and perception through gender and other categories of difference and seeks emancipatory strategies in academia. She publishes internationally on interdisciplinary topics in media and educational sciences within critical gender studies and repeatedly tries to bring together activism, art, and science. www.lenaeckert.org



The event is part of the series “No worries?! An information and exchange series on care work and university , organized by the Equality and Diversity Office in close cooperation with the Family Services Center of Personnel Development.