Research from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that only 38% of women who give birth return to the workforce within two years of giving birth, with 82% of those women only returning to work part-time.
This divide is particularly concerning in the competitive world of academia, where breaks between research, publications, grants and schedules cost women opportunities if and when they wish to return to work. This manifests in growing divides in gender representation beyond early career academics, especially in the science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) disciplines.
At UTS, we acknowledge that women take the majority of work breaks to focus on family and health, particularly after giving birth, and that women researchers are under pressure to strategise and balance when to start their family with their career.
Last year, Associate Professor Min Xu had the chance to do both, having been awarded leave under the Postdoctoral Parental Leave Scheme in the Faculty of Engineering and IT (FEIT).
The program, launched in 2017 and taken up by Xu in December 2020, allows for women in FEIT to have a postdoctoral researcher undertake the academic’s continuing research projects while the primary researcher is away on maternity leave.
The postdoctoral researcher handles research for the designated period, and gains a co-author position on the final research.
Acting the same way a parental leave cover would in other jobs, the scheme intends to allow parents the chance to start their post-birth family commitments while maintaining their commitment to current research grants and projects.
The application of the Scheme to cover Min Xu’s maternity leave has allowed Xu a chance to continue her research and preserve her mental health while bonding with her baby.
Xu was concerned that with her parental leave, her higher degree research (HDR) students would also fall behind.
‘It is still very difficult for me to work on every individual task in-person. This fund will help me to ensure good progress of ongoing research projects in my team, high-quality HDR supervision, and many other activities.’
In 2015, UTS signaled its strong commitment to redressing this gender imbalance by joining the Athena SWAN Program, coordinated by the Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion. In 2018 we were part of the first cohort of universities and research institutions accredited the Athena SWAN Bronze Award. As the largest STEMM faculty at UTS, FEIT has committed to take action and lead by example.
Eryk Dutkiewicz, Head of School of Electrical and Data Engineering, where Xu is currently situated, is happy to support the opportunities the scheme opens up to retain academics who would otherwise face barriers during parental leave.
‘Associate Professor Min Xu is a valuable asset to the School of Electrical and Data Engineering, and an outstanding academic and researcher. I supported her application to the scheme to enable her to continue her excellent research and avoid significant disruption in her research.’
FEIT Dean Ian Burnett, who encouraged Xu to apply for the scheme, maintained that the faculty’s focus is supporting staff to create engaging and innovative research.
‘It is our policy to support our staff here in the faculty. Min is a great worker and we are happy to support her.’
Xu’s next few months are focused on her new baby, and her health.
‘This is a great scheme! I strongly believe it will help new moms who are also active researchers significantly.’
The Postdoctoral scheme is available to any women academic staff who wish to take parental leave while maintaining research projects. To apply for the scheme or to learn more, researchers can access the Parental Leave Provision of Postdoctoral support information sheet on the FEIT SharePoint Portal, or consult with their Head of School for more information.