Diapers, Dissertations, and Other Holy Things: The Experiences of Mothers Working in Christian Colleges and Universities.

Academic institutions present specific challenges to women attempting to balance work and family responsibilities. This type of involvement within the subculture of evangelical Christianity presents its own variations. Interviews with 30 mothers working in Christian academia were analyzed using a post hoc content analysis informed by principles of grounded theory (Strauss and Corbin, 1990, 1998). The experiences of these women reveal a number of emotional and practical needs that can inform institutions desiring to create family-friendly climates. These women's stories also reveal that women working within a Christian subculture may differ in displaying tensions consistent with gender-role ideologies that are more conservative than those of the larger society. They seek work environments that are consistent with these ideologies, desire personal integration of their spirituality with their work and family commitments, and express the need for flexibility in establishing goals that are consistent with thei...