Returning to work after maternity leave or a career break can be challenging, especially in competitive and fast-paced sectors such as STEMM. Due to unequal family policies and internalised gender roles, mothers are more likely than fathers to take a long parental leave or to stop working for a few years to raise their young children- whether it is by choice, due to pressure from their spouse and/or family, or because childcare is not available. The pandemic has magnified these inequalities and a record number of mothers have left the workforce for caregiving over the past years.
In STEMM academia, many mothers identify with this problem and sadly, although the internet is overflowing with tips and advice on how to restart a career after an extended break, mothers may still lack the confidence and support to make this career transition.
In this report, we summarise the major points discussed during the event and Q&A. Don’t miss the strategies and advice at the end of this article! Attendees and all members of Mothers in Science can watch the recording. Become a member to join our community and get many benefits! Note: If you are struggling financially and can’t afford the membership fee, please contact us to request a fee waiver.
Returning to a STEMM career after a caregiving break
For our recent Scimom Chats special event, we were honoured to have an amazing line-up of speakers discussing career re-entry challenges as well as strategies, resources, and programs available to help mothers restart their career after taking time away for childcare. Our fabulous audience had the opportunity to hear the honest testimonials of two mom career-returners in STEMM academia and industry and to learn about two incredible non-profit organisations that are helping mothers return to their STEMM career.
The speakers in this panel discussion included Dr. Teresa Niccoli, principal investigator at University College London (UCL) working on dementia and Alzheimer’s research. Dr. Niccoli took a 5-year career break to look after her two sons before returning to her academic career. Also joining us from the UK was Dr. Katie Perry, CEO at the Daphne Jackson Trust, a UK-based nonprofit organisation helping academic researchers return to STEMM careers after a career break for family, caregiving or health reasons. We were also honoured to welcome Tami Forman, founder and CEO of Path Forward, a US-based nonprofit organisation that empowers stay-at-home mothers and other caregivers to restart their professional careers after a caregiving break. Finally, Dr. Dani Strickland, a professor at Loughborough University (UK) working on electrical power engineering, shared her experience as a career returner in STEMM industry and academia.
What is the duration of a career break for ensuring a successful return?
Both Dr. Katie Perry and Tami Forman noted that returners in their organisations on average have career gaps of 7 to 11 years, with some people returning successfully to their career after taking a break of up to 20 years! Everyone has a unique situation, and Dr Perry and Ms Forman agreed that mothers and caregivers should restart their careers only when they feel ready.
The career returners in our panel openly shared their own experiences. Dr Niccoli returned to her academic career after a 5-year caregiving break as a postdoc paid by the host lab. She mentioned that it took her about a year to secure a job and that she hadn’t expected it would be so difficult to find a position after the career break. However, despite these challenges she enjoyed spending time with her children and she managed to successfully navigate her career. She now leads a lab with 9 people working on dementia research.
“Be strategic about how you spend your time during the childcare break.”
Dr Strickland took a 3-year caregiving break and then returned to her career in industry with a Daphne Jackson Fellowship working as an engineer. After 10 years, she moved back to academia working part-time as a lecturer and she is now a professor leading a successful lab. Dr Strickland spoke about the benefits and disadvantages of working part-time and gave advice on how to beat self-doubt and learn to ask for what you want. Dr. Perry said that within Daphne Jackson fellows only about 7% are fathers, and more recently, the organisation awarded their first fellowship to a transgender researcher. The majority of fellows are mothers looking to return to an academic career after a career break for childcare.
Ms Forman advised the audience to "be honest about your reasons for a career break and don't succumb to any peer or social pressure.” It is possible to be strategic and plan ahead for re-entry if mothers/caregivers stay focused and are clear about their reasons for taking the career break.
Major challenges of career re-entry and success strategies
Building confidence
Our panellists agreed that lack of confidence is a major challenge for returnees. Dr. Strickland suggested that volunteering in schools or at an organisation in their field may help mothers keep in touch with the professional world and thus not feel inadequate when they return to work. Ms Forman added that while volunteering is important, caregivers must also be strategic and creative; doing work that gives them joy and makes them comfortable during the career break, to help them build confidence required to restart their careers.
For most biomedical research areas, the technicalities don't change, argued Dr. Niccoli. “What changes is the literature and you can catch up with background reading during your break.” More so, taking short courses or doing a Masters in related fields help too. Essentially, this allows you to meet like-minded people and create a group of friends who understand your career goals and, in the particular case of STEMM, it is helpful to be around people who you can relate to and who can “speak science” and stimulate you intellectually, which can be motivating when you spend most of your days interacting with children.
Discrimination and bias
Ms Forman observed that most employers would rather not hire returnees with career gaps on their résumés. It is hard to find jobs, and career breaks make it even harder, and so it may likely take longer than you had planned to find a suitable job. For this reason, just like Dr. Niccoli suggested earlier, building a support network of people with similar plans, goals and aspirations may be helpful.
It is also important to stay in touch with colleagues and mentors in your field, who can be a source of encouragement if grant or job rejections slow down the re-entry process. It is important to not turn a blind eye on these barriers and continue to raise awareness and push for equity and inclusiveness policies in the workplace. For this reason, part of Ms Forman’s job at Path Forward is to guide corporate organisations to re-imagine returnees’ career gaps, to discover how potential transferable skills gained during the breaks can be applied in a new position.
Asking for help
There is a misconception among mothers that no one wants to help them, as society expects them to do everything while sacrificing their own needs, often to the expense of their mental and physical health. While these pressures are real, if you don’t ask for help, you certainly won’t have it. The speakers emphasised that mothers must learn to build spare capacity before saying YES to any task. To achieve this, mothers need a lot of help and support, which means they must ASK for it. Plan for contingencies and set everything in place before re-entry: childcare arrangements, household/childcare sharing with your partner, support from family, babysitters…
Dr. Niccoli mentioned that she had a lot of caregiving support during the first years after she moved back to work, for example, having an au-pair was an immense help. She says it is important to say no and get help because “when we try to do everything we explode and then we don’t do anything well”. Explore childcare options and plan accordingly with respect to your unique situation, she advises.
"Be selfish about your time. Ask for childcare help. You gain no prizes from doing everything yourself.”
Conclusion and closing advice
An overall conclusion is that advocacy for policy change in terms of work culture, flexibility, equity and inclusion in the workforce and research funding agencies must continue. Self-advocacy among mothers and caregivers is also encouraged, because if you are not vocal about your needs, employers and funding agencies will not know their significance. Funding agencies and scientific societies must invest more in the childcare sector, for example, by providing carer's bursaries to accommodate mothers/caregivers who need to attend conferences. Finally, help others who are going through what you have succeeded at. Remember, "you are not a true success unless you're helping others succeed." Our panellists closed the event with the following advice:
1. Seek career re-entry opportunities and get in touch with organisations that support caregivers/returnees.
2. Define your reason for taking a career break and be honest about it. Your time off should be used efficiently and joyfully without regrets.
3. Plan your re-entry strategically. It doesn't have to be perfect but it's important to set goals. More so, seek for ways to augment your support system in order to be more efficient and productive when you're ready to return.
4. Be vocal about your work needs, terms and conditions. If a part-time option is better in your situation, please take it and adjust gradually to full time as your caregiving situation changes. Working part-time is better than not working at all, because it will help you stay connected with the workforce and research developments in your area. However, it is totally unacceptable to agree to a part-time pay for a full-time job!
5. Before getting pregnant or during, study your organisational/country policies about career breaks or maternity leave. This will help you plan better and weigh the options available to you.