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[Trailing Spouse by choice]

I’ve been lurking on this forum for a couple of months now. I started reading the forum hoping to find others who are going through or have gone through what I’m going through now – the two-body problem. I think I was hoping to feel a little less alone as well as to learn a little from the experiences of others. I’ve found both of those things here. Someone mentioned the books “The Family Track” and “The Two-Body Problem” that I’m currently reading. That’s all been good if depressing.

However, I’ve been amazed at the strong emotional and tactless responses that this topic raises on the forum from people who don’t have the problem. Things like “didn’t you know what you were getting into when you started grad school?” and “what business other than academia guarantees that both spouses would get a job?” and “what kind of academic can’t get a spousal hire?” The list goes on and on. These questions are thoughtless and juvenile. Life is just not that easy and getting a spousal hire is very difficult in today’s job market.

I think that the root of the two body problem and the parenthood problem and the elder care problem is the lack of flexibility in the system. There are basically two options: full-time tt job or adjunct. There is no in between even though some institutions have tried part-time tt jobs, job sharing and other options. And don't tell me that academia is kind to parents. Adjuncts do not have any benefits and so no parental leave. So my question is, can the system change? And if not, why not? Is the hostility of academics who do not have family issues part of the problem?

[Marlene]

I sympathesize with the difficulties of your situation, but the truth is that there aren't many other occupations that would provide a job for the spouse. So I'm puzzled as to why you call that response juvenile. It sounds factual. Academia is kind to parents in some ways, such as flexible schedules, and unkind in others, such as long hours.

I don't think there is a hostility of academics who don't have families. I think there is an expectation among Ph.D. graduates that they deserve a tenure-track job at a top school and their wife/husband deserves a wonderful job provided by the university. This is simply not realistic. There are more candidates than positions. You didn't give specifics so we don't know if you're husband/wife is having trouble finding a job or you're having trouble finding a spoual hire, or what the situation is.

We deal with spousal hire issues all the time, and it's very difficult. Sometimes the spousal hire is a bonus and we're thrilled to get him/her. But what are we supposed to do when the spousal hire is someone we don't really want and would never hire otherwise? When the couple divorces a year later? When we simply can't find a position for them?

I would love to find a way to make this work better. You mentioned that you think the problem is a lack of flexibility in the system. Can you be more specific about what you think would help? I'm sure many of us would be open to ideas.

[Zarkov]

I knew someone who had a "half time" asst prof job.  It was a teaching school with a 4/4 load, as I recall, but this job was 2/2.  Having an in-between category  -- not full time nor adjunct --  would work in some cases.

[Fiona]

The reason "the system" lacks flexibility is lack of money.

Most state schools are chronically grubbing for money from the state legislatures, and always getting a lot less than they need. The proliferation of adjuncts is simply a way to cover classes in spite of the lack of money we're given to do so.

If you want to change "the system," you need to change American attitudes about spending money on education.

In truth, education and health care should be the biggest items we spend on in the U. S.

I'm not holding my breath for that to happen, esp. under Bush.

[%sig%]

[Trailing Spouse by choice]

To Marlene:
Perhaps the term ‘juvenile’ was not the appropriate term, but I think responses like “why didn’t you know the system was difficult for two career couples and couples with kids when you started?” are simplistic. As for the hostility, I’m afraid I wasn’t clear – I meant the hostility that shows up on the forum – not academia in general.

I didn’t mention the specifics of my situation because I don’t think the details of one person’s problem matter as much as the more general problem with the system. From posts on this forum about a range of difficulties including dual careers, parenthood, being single and having a career, and elder care, it is clear to me that the system could be better.

As for spousal hires, I never ever assumed that I deserved one or was owed one, but I would like institutions to consider them. I met my spouse in the last years of my dissertation, and we both went on the job market at the same time in different fields. My spouse got a tenure track job offer first from a SLAC. They didn’t give us even a week to decide. So my spouse accepted the job before going on two other campus visits. The SLAC wouldn’t even consider a spousal hire. I understand that I may not have fit into the department there or they might not have considered me good enough. But the department wasn’t even asked. I certainly do not believe that they should have given me a job, but they could have at least considered something – anything. The provost could have asked the department whether they might be interested in adding me to the department – whether as an adjunct or temporary or tt. Perhaps if there were more options besides tt or adjunct, administrations would be more willing to consider spousal hire options. In the end we were very lucky. Although I was offered a prestigious post-doc (that was geographically far away), I choose to accept adjunct positions at two different institutions in the same city as my spouse. We are lucky that we are in an area with many colleges and universities and so far things have been better for us than for many other dual career couples that I know. But we still have to worry about the long term. Will I be able to find a permanent position in the area? Will we both have to go on the market again and hope for a spousal hire? Etc.

I still think that in order to make the profession more livable, there need to be more options. The books that I mentioned in the original post give options beyond the two I mentioned in my post. One that I liked a lot was the possibility of choosing to change a full-time tt job into a part-time tt job when needed – whether for childcare or eldercare or any other situation – and then back to a full-time tt. Job sharing is also a good option if a couple is in the same field. But the real issue, I think, has to do with how the system treats part-time temporary faculty.

Just because the system has always been this way does not mean that it is an ideal system or that it cannot change. The question is: can it change? And how can that change be made?

[anon]

Given that academia offers more support for spouses than any other field I know of, it's hard to push for the changes you suggest. If your spouse was a hire-powered executive for Microsoft would your situation be different? Better? Worse? Are there systems out there that work for dual-professional couples? There aren't many jobs that let full-time people go to part-time people. Are there a lot of very successful part-time heart surgeons? I don't know, but I doubt it. You seem to want it all. You're also dealing with multiple issues. The inability to be part-time has nothing to do with your inability to get a spousal hire. I doubt you would be pleased if your spouse's department was asked to hire you and said no.

[Anon3]

I'm part of a two-body "problem." It's not that other fields guarantee spousal employment, but it's not so difficult to find employment for the spouse in a lot of other fields. For instance, if I'm a plumber and my spouse is also a plumber, there'd be more options for us in even a smallish town (about 100,000 people). But for academics, there's usually only that one college/university within driving distance. So lining up employment for both bodies is difficult.

For what it's worth, my experience has shown that the problem is not just money, especially if you're in the same field/department. Yes, it's tough to locate money in March or April for even a lecturer position. But the real problem is power. Most people I've encountered have been afraid that if they do meet my request--not demand, but very polite request--for spousal teaching, they'll have given me too much power. This is especially true for entry-level positions. They'll be happy to throw in a couple thousand more in the start-up package, but most people I've come across just state "We don't do that kind of thing here".

I agree with you though, OP. Just because the system's always been this way doesn't mean that it should stay so. I wish I had some systemic solutions - it's mostly a matter of telling our story until we find someone sympathetic who'll listen and give us a shot. Good luck!

[%sig%]

[tamiam]

Hi, TSBC -

Before you get buried in negativity, I did want to say hello and welcome. I'm always glad to see a new poster asking about a question that means a lot to them.

I think the biggest problem with the "system" might simply be one of geography! For instances, what's the spouse of someone hired on at Colby College (Waterville, Maine) supposed to do? The college is not huge, there's not a lot of other professional employment opportunities in the vicinity, and with tt jobs few and far between...

It's tough. And, somehow, we never really hear it when we are warned...

If it makes you feel any better, that sort of situation isn't confined to two  career academic couples. Right now, my spouse is working in a major metro area with lots of colleges, and I'm finishing up a Ph.D. in a field with reasonably good job prospects (he's not an academic). He makes about 5 times what I would expect to make as an assistant prof, so of course we will move up to where his job is when I finish. Will I find a tt job at a good Uni. after all this hard work, given limited geographic mobility? Not very likely. There just aren't enough good academic jobs to go around, and all the stars need to be in alignment in order to land one.

But, TSBC, do keep coming back to these forums. As you work through these issues, you will find others here who have gone through the same things.

[anon again]

The system will change when it is no longer a buyers market.  When the economy was booming - businesses realized they needed to do more to attract top talents. My university is making noises about what can they do to attract top talent to a small college town and people are listening. This is not just a "women in the pipeline" problem, this will make life better for lots of men too.
Happy faculty enjoy their work more, get more done, and their students like them more. We'd all get a lot more done if we quit worrying about the "power" of a new untenured professor and go write a grant or do something useful.

[at Brown]

At Harvard and Brown (and surely at others -- I'm only familiar with the situation at these 2), there is an acknowledgment at the highest levels that, in order to attract and retain good women faculty, they must deal with the trailing spouse issue. Most academic women are married to academic men, and there aren't abundant job opportunities per town for academics the way there might be for, say, doctors or lawyers.

Maybe the university could facilitate (partially subsidize, even?) spousal hires at other area colleges or other places of employment, if the home institution is unable to take the spouse. Maybe the university could give them a non-tt position like research or clinical professor. I think if more places made it a priority, the system probably could change.

[Trailing Spouse by choice]

I think that anon's posting exemplifies what I see as part of the problem:

"Given that academia offers more support for spouses than any other field I know of, it's hard to push for the changes you suggest. If your spouse was a hire-powered executive for Microsoft would your situation be different? Better? Worse? Are there systems out there that work for dual-professional couples? There aren't many jobs that let full-time people go to part-time people. Are there a lot of very successful part-time heart surgeons? I don't know, but I doubt it. You seem to want it all. You're also dealing with multiple issues. The inability to be part-time has nothing to do with your inability to get a spousal hire. I doubt you would be pleased if your spouse's department was asked to hire you and said no."

Setting high-powered executives and heart-surgeons aside, I think that most Americans, even professionals, expect to get a job that allows them to live in the same city as their spouse. Why is that “wanting it all”? And why is that a bad thing?

Of course I recognize that the academy faces several issues that most professions don’t. That is why we need different solutions. As Anon3 pointed out, there are rarely several universities in the same area, but research on this shows that a huge proportion of academics are married to other academics. Wolf-Wendel et al. “The Two-Body Problem” quote a 1997 study that found that 35% of male faculty and 40% of female faculty are married to other faculty members. Clearly this is an issue that academia should address.

And I acknowledged that I’m dealing with several issues – dual career issues, parenthood issues, elder care issues etc. That was the point of my posting. I see serious systematic problems that affect the quality of life for professors. And I’m suggesting that if the system was more flexible, such as having real part-time options, more creative solutions could possibly be found.

[trailing is right]

Thanks, Trailing, for acknowledging that by asking for spousal hire, we're not "wanting it all." All I'm looking for is a little bit of dignity for my wife who happens to be an academic - an academic with multiple publications, stellar teaching evaluations, and excellent recommendations. Just because I got hired at a small school doesn't mean that she should have to scramble for last-minute teaching scraps semester after semester.

[%sig%]

[Trailing Spouse by choice]

You are welcom TIR.

I would also like to add that of course I would be disappointed if the provost had asked the department to hire me and they said 'no'. But at least there would have been a chance. That is much preferable to no chance at all. And more importantly, it would be a better system.

[Stim]

No.  But thanks for asking.

[Trailing Spouse by choice]

I just found an article that is full of alternatives in case anyone cares.

Mason, Mary Ann, and Marc Goulden. 2004. Do Babies Matter (Part II)? Academe 90(6):10-15.