Oluwatobiloba Odetoyinbo: Academic Motherhood in Nigeria: Navigating Reproduction and Care at the Margins
Online seminar - June 4th 2025
This study explores how Nigerian academic mothers navigate the intersection of motherhood and work. Drawing on the ideal academic worker construct, gendered corporeality, and African feminism, this study engages narrative interviews conducted with sixty academic mothers in Nigeria. The challenges identified relate to institutional, sociocultural, childcare and physiological demands, revealing how the disembodied nature of academic work organisation intersects with socio-cultural expectations of care, to impact academic women’s career trajectories. The strategies deployed suggest how women both resist and reinforce dominant norms. This study advances gender equity debates in Higher Education professions, by advocating for structural changes that foster more inclusive and equitable workplaces.
M. Oluwatobiloba Odetoyinbo is a Doctoral Candidate in Management and Organisation Studies at Lancaster University Management School, where she also serves as a Teaching Associate.