Abstract
This chapter explores the experiences and challenges of being both a doctoral student and a mother. The author highlights the conditions that can be faced by a mother studying her doctoral degree and discusses how to deal with the competing demands of doctoral training and parental responsibility in relation to decision-making, stress, cultural adaptation, and workload management. In this chapter, the author argues that the PhD journey provides mothers with opportunities to actualise their potential as well as express their passion for academic life.
Once I entered the academic world, on the other hand, I found that speaking about my daughter with my colleagues and professors usually elicited surprise – or worse. When I […] decided to apply for a Ph.D., for example, a professor told me that pursuing a doctoral degree would be challenging in my ‘situation’. In some ways, that professor was right.
Nikolaeva (2018), p. 258.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Vista Bhopti for sharing her clinical psychology expertise during the preparation of this chapter. I would also like to acknowledge the LPDP (Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan) scholarship provided by the Ministry of Finance, Indonesia, that enabled me to undertake my doctoral studies.
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Utami, A.D. (2019). Walking a Tightrope: Juggling Competing Demands as a PhD Student and a Mother. In: Pretorius, L., Macaulay, L., Cahusac de Caux, B. (eds) Wellbeing in Doctoral Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9302-0_8
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