A dichotomy of domestic and academic pathways: challenges of motherhood in an international doctoral program on land science

Figures & data

Figure 1. Share of drop-out rates among female candidates and among male candidates from the doctoral program at ZEF, according to their batches, from 1998 to 2021.⁸

Table 1. Differences between genders regarding family obligations and academic performance indicators

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)
	N	Full sample	Female	Male	Mean difference	Test of Significance
Household Responsibilities	104		N = 56	N = 57
Living with a partner or not Partner is in charge	11	-	0.09 (0.30)	0.91 (0.30)	−0.82***	Fisher
Living with a partner only	37	Freq.
1.Equally	22	0.54	0.45 (0.50)	0.55 (0.50)	−0.15 ***	Fisher
2.Respondent is in charge	9	0.27	0.78 (0.44)	0.22 (0.44)	0.56 *	Fisher
3.Partner is in charge	6	0.19	0 (0)	1 (0)	−1.0**	Fisher
Parenting Responsibilities	44	Freq.	0.44 (N = 20)	0.56 (N = 25)
1.Equally	15	0.33	0.27 (0.46)	0.73 (0.46)	−0.46***	Fisher
2.Respondent is in charge	11	0.26	0.82 (0.33)	0.18(0.33)	0.64*	Fisher
3.Partner is in charge	14	0.31	0.29 (0.47)	0.72 (0.47)	−0.43***	Fisher
4.Surrounding family	4	0.09	0.75 (0.5)	0.25 (0.5)	0.5	Fisher
Parents before the Doctoral Studies
1.All respondents according to the number of kids	116	1	0.3 (0.7)	0.5 (0.9)	No difference	Wilcox
2.Number of kids per parent	27	0.23	1.7 (0.7)	1.6(0.8)	No difference	Wilcox
3.Parents only (category)	28	0.24	0.37 (0.49)	0.63 (0.49)	−0.26***	Wilcox
3.1Doctoral Duration	27	3.9 (1.1)	3.9 (0.9)	3.9 (1.3)	0	Wilcox
3.2Number of Publications	23	2.6 (2.2)	2.5 (2.9)	2.6 (2.3)	−0.1	Wilcox
3.3Academic performance ^a	28	0.7 (0.7)	0.7 (0.8)	0.8 (0.7)	−0.1	Wilcox
1.Parents during the Doctoral Studies
1.Parents only (category)	29	Freq.	0.52	0.48	No difference	Fisher
1.1Doctoral Duration	29	4.7 (1.3)	5.3 (1.5)	4.1 (0.8)	1.2**	Wilcox
1.2Number of Publications	29	3.1 (2)	2.9 (2.1)	3.4 (1.9)	−0.5***	Wilcox
1.3Academic performance ^a	29	0.7 (0.6)	0.6 (0.6)	0.9 (0.5)	−0.3*	Wilcox

Note: Mean values are shown with standard deviations in parentheses. * p < .1, **p < .05, ***p < .01.

^aAcademic performance is calculated from the Number of Publications divided by the Duration of the Doctoral Studies

Figure 2. Share of household responsibilities among men and women during doctoral studies between partners. differences are tested for statistical significance with p-values shown above the respective bars.

Figure 3. Share of parenting roles among men and women attending the doctoral program. differences are tested for statistical significance with p-values shown above the respective bars.

Figure 4. The impact of having kids during the doctorate on (A) the duration of the program and (B) on the number of related authored publications.

Figure 5. The impact of having kids during the doctorate on the duration of the studies for (A) fathers and (B) mothers comparing to students who did not have kids during the doctorate.

Figure 6. Respondents’ perception regarding family obligations as barriers to achieving career goals in academia.

Figure 7. The share of challenges in achieving a ‘work-life balance’ among men and women attending the doctoral program at ZEF.