Literature Review: Work/Life Issues in Brief
The U.S. Bureau of Statistics reports that as of 1996, 45% of the working population was from dual career families (http://www.bls.gov/cps/home.htm). Given this fact, the relative lack of support of dual career couples in academia is even more notable.
Studies indicate that balancing work and life is of primary concern for most women in S&E. In fact, studies have shown that one of the primary reasons of women for not pursuing graduate studies is the desire for a family and the perception that a career in S&E will present a conflict with that goal (Sax, 2001).
The issue of balancing family and work concerns continues to be of vital importance beyond graduate school. A study of female biology professors of all levels found that most of the women described family life and children as a factor in their success (both positive and negative). The main issues with family constraints are the time demands it places on the career and the lack of departmental support (Scholer, 1998).
Women rarely reported having a role model with this conflict. Interestingly, the senior faculty members interviewed rarely had children, while pre-tenure women had children more often than not (Scholer, 1998).
Having a spouse was reported as either an extreme hindrance or great benefit for women. In dual career homes, women reported a "stalling" of their career advancement because of either the inability to move to a job location, or moving to a job location for their spouse where a job was not available for the woman (Scholer, 1998).
Even when a dual career woman has the ability to move to a job location to pursue an academic career in S&E, the likelihood that she will remain in that position is severely decreased if the institution does not have family friendly policies (Rosser & Lane, 2002).