Abstract
Work–family balance is one of the biggest challenges facing families in the United States. Feminist and family scholars have long documented the struggles that women in particular face when trying to maintain careers, care for their children and other family members, and manage a household. Such scholars also discuss “family-friendly” policies that workplaces implement to help employees achieve a suitable balance. For those looking to understand these very issues as they pertain specifically to full-time faculty members in academe, the two books reviewed here are a welcome addition to the literature. While different in format and purpose, the two books cover related ground and together are vital for those interested in understanding work–family balance challenges facing faculty members across the United States. Both books also focus on solutions to those challenges.
Family-Friendly Policies and Practices in Academe is an edited volume divided into two parts. The main contributions of this book are grounded in the book’s very purpose: to explain work–family balance challenges confronting those in academe, and present examples of how to mitigate those challenges. The chapters cover a variety of policies and constituencies at universities, such as parental leave and stopping the tenure clock, with an emphasis on faculty mothers and fathers, staff, and faculty caring for elderly parents.
Part I (chapters one through five) showcases current research about work/family issues in academe, with three particularly intriguing chapters. Chapter three examines how family-friendly policies reduce the number of faculty members who intend to leave their positions because they feel overworked. The chapter’s main strength is the practical advice on how to create a positive environment for faculty parents. Chapter 4 examines how male faculty and staff decide whether or not to make use of parental leave policies. This chapter, like others, argues that while policies are important, creating a culture in which faculty feel comfortable accessing those policies is critical to successful policy implementation. The focus on the importance of a family-friendly culture is a major theme throughout Part I. Chapter five widens the scope of the anthology by focusing on faculty caring for elderly parents. The discussion of geographic distance from aging parents, bereavement, and the gendered nature of caregiving make this chapter a particularly important contribution to the volume.
Part II (chapters six through eleven) presents a series of case studies providing guidance to faculty and administrators who want to institute change in their institutions. Through the detailed examples of how to institute family-friendly policies, this part offers hope that change is possible. Another strength of Part II is that each case study relies on a different method for examining and resolving a diversity of work–family challenges. Chapter 8 is perhaps the strongest chapter given its in-depth discussion of the theoretical lens that the author used to develop and implement 10 strategies to institute parental leave at an academic institution. The author’s use of theory to solve a social problem makes this chapter a compelling example of the practical uses of theory. Another highlight is chapter 10, which examines a unique program designed specifically for faculty who are at a critical juncture in their professional lives and who experience a personal crisis that interrupts their research productivity. The chapter not only provides a helpful discussion of how and when the program is used but also describes the many psychological and material benefits of such programs to universities.
The strengths of this book lie in the collection of essays that comprise the nine substantive chapters. However, the anthology lacks cohesiveness as the editors fail to weave the chapters together. There is no overarching theoretical framework to connect the chapters, no analysis focusing on the important connections between institutional policy and culture, and no definitions by the editors of key terms used throughout the book. The result is a redundancy at the beginning of each chapter where the contributing authors present similar literature reviews regarding work–family balance, family-friendly policies, and gender inequality in the division of labor in the academy and at home. Another result is a disconnect between information presented in each chapter, even when the information clearly has important connections. Rather than making such connections, the editors’ introductions to the two parts add little to the larger discussion, presenting a missed opportunity to provide a coherent analysis throughout the book.
In contrast, Faculty Fathers is constructed around a cohesive and overarching theoretical framework and analysis. Margaret W. Sallee presents a comparative case study of 70 faculty fathers in four public research institutions located throughout the United States. Although Sallee tried to collect a sample diversified by race and sexual identity, her sample consists of heterosexual men, most of whom are white. Perhaps because of this lack of racial diversity, Sallee does not analyze faculty fathers’ experiences by race. Instead, she examines their experiences through a theoretical framework focusing on the gendered university, the ideal worker who puts work above family and works long hours in the office, hegemonic masculinity in which men dominate women and economic spheres, and prevailing household divisions of labor where women’s unpaid labor in the home facilitates men’s paid labor in the workforce. Sallee’s express purpose is to “to understand the challenges that faculty fathers face as they navigate the demands of parenthood and the academy” (p. 12). She focuses on how the organizational culture of a university discriminates against male faculty members who do not fit the norms of the ideal worker or seek to redefine masculinity through their roles as engaged fathers.
Sallee provides a detailed discussion of her theoretical framework, past literature, and methods, a foundation she uses to analyze the data presented in every chapter. The book distinguishes between family-friendly and father-friendly institutions and stresses the importance of a university’s geographic location, existence of policies, history of policy use, support from administrators, and support from colleagues in determining how likely a faculty father is to make use of existing family-friendly programs.
A particularly interesting discussion in the book focuses on academic disciplines and their effects on faculty fathers’ experiences. Dividing disciplines into three categories, Sallee found that faculty fathers in the humanities and social sciences adhered to a nonstandard work schedule, often worked from home, engaged in child care during the day, and received support from their chairs and faculty colleagues. These experiences contrast with experiences of faculty fathers in science and engineering, as well as professional schools. Those fathers worked traditional 8:00 to 6:00
Another important finding is that once faculty members become fathers, the type of research they conduct changes. Faculty fathers said they take fewer risks in conducting research that might not result in a grant or publication. They also have less time to develop innovative research ideas. The most intriguing findings appear in chapter seven where Sallee draws on 22 Generation X assistant professors. These faculty fathers reject the ideal worker, prioritize family over work, and thus create “a new definition of hegemonic masculinity that values both breadwinning and caregiving as appropriate roles for men” (p. 182). Yet these fathers still obtain grants and meet departmental metrics for tenure. Furthermore, the wives of nearly all the assistant professors work full- or part-time, with less flexible schedules than those of a college professor. Chapter seven is a must read for senior faculty and academic administrators wanting to understand the family and work patterns of young faculty members joining their universities.
Despite the different structure and scope of each book reviewed, the two books share four themes. First, both books present data on gender imbalances, challenges of faculty parents, and the existence and use of family-friendly policies in academe. Second, both books advocate for creating and implementing family-friendly policies and culture to improve faculty members’ lives. Family-Friendly Policies and Practices in Academe focuses on advocacy throughout the entire book, while Faculty Fathers presents ways of advocating in the final chapter. Third, they both focus on the unique work demands and experiences of faculty members. These demands reveal how a flexible schedule during the day and the ability to do professional work at home create a blurry line between work and home that often translates into long work hours with limited weekend breaks. Fourth, and perhaps the most essential take-away point for both books, is that campus culture has a significant impact on the use of and experiences with family-friendly policies.
Both books are suitable for undergraduate and graduate policy classes, sociology classes focusing on the connections between structure and culture, and gender studies and family studies classes focusing on work–family balance. Most importantly, both books are must-reads for academic administrators and faculty members who want to develop, implement, and sustain family-friendly policies, as well as create a family-friendly culture from departments through top administration, in their home institutions.