Chapter 14: “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”: Women Doctoral Students Make Sense of Their Lived Experiences

The goal of this research was to validate the voices of women graduate students experiencing frustration reconciling their needs and desires as women with the culture and expectations of academe. Participants, who were pursuing a terminal degree at a research-intensive institution, were single females with aspirations or intentions of also being mothers while working someday on the tenure-track in academia. Themes that emerged from open-ended interviews included the roles of spirituality and family in coming to terms with life realities, the importance of critiquing the Ivory Tower for its failure to recognize women’s specific needs and implement change, and the intersectional nature of motherhood, academia, culture, and politics.