Outdoor Careers and Motherhood

Abstract

Background: Working in an outdoor career with extensive travel and long hours away from home can pose challenges for practitioners. For women, motherhood can create constraints and impact one’s career trajectory. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of motherhood on the career trajectory of women working in Adventure Education (AE), Outdoor Education (OE), and/or Experiential Education (EE). Methodology/Approach: About 83 women completed an online survey which included both descriptive (closed-ended) and qualitative (open-ended) questions. Findings/Conclusions: An analysis of the findings included: why women leave their chosen career path, how working mothers manage both career and family, challenges women face and strategies to support working mothers. Implications: There are many challenges motherhood poses for women often requiring women to either leave their chosen career path or change their job responsibilities. Despite these challenges many women have found ways to manage both family and work life however, institutional changes could help women to be more successful.