The JuDy team was pleased to present the progress of its study on women's work experiences at the time around maternity leave in December 2020 at the European Academy of Management (EURAM) conference. Created in 2001, this association, whose members are present in 60 countries around the world, aims to advance the discipline of management in Europe.
Abstract of the submitted paper:
Recent research suggests that becoming a mother could be a tipping point in women's careers. A study conducted by Kleven and colleagues (2019) shows that the gender income gap increases after the birth of a child and that it never reduces thereafter, intensifying disparities between women and men in society as a whole and in organizations in particular. In our study, we take a subjective perspective and investigate women’s career motives and fairness dynamics at the time around maternity leave using longitudinal qualitative data from 50 working mothers. We are concerned with mothers’ personal experiences at work at this liminal period of time, from the time before going on maternity or adoption leave to several months after returning to work. In this specific paper, we present the preliminary results of the first round of interviews conducted with 18 pregnant employees. The preliminary results indicate that women experience a shift in career motives during pregnancy and that these changes in career motives have an impact on their career intentions and decisions. Interestingly, the findings seem to confirm that career motives may play a role in the formation of justice perceptions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed at the end of the paper.
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