“Story time is my duty”: Expatriate academic fathers' experiences of balancing their work and home lives

Abstract

An academic's life is acknowledged to be the one with constant pressure to publish, as well as fulfilling teaching and other tasks. Much has been written about the academic mother's experience, where professional gain is often reported to be at personal expense. Academic fathers' experiences are less explored, and usually situated within their own home countries. This article presents a qualitative narrative research of male faculty parents working in the United Arab Emirates in the Arabian Gulf. The ways in which the academic fathers “perform” fatherhood, strive to find balance in their lives, and create space for the necessary work of academic research are explored. The findings indicate that where work pressures are experienced, their home support systems (namely spousal support, but also paid domestic help) compensated for this in a way which does not appear to incur self-sacrifice or career impact. The academic fathers generally reported feeling supported and validated by their organizations and host country.