By Tayhana Taylor, World News, Science, and Technology Editor
Being a full-time mother and career woman can involve very demanding tasks. Saint Leo University has many female professors who are doing an incredible job at fulfilling both roles. Here is how some of them manage motherhood, career, and being a woman.
Dr. Ebony Perez, an Assistant Professor, and the Department Chair of Undergraduate Social Work at Saint Leo, shares how she balances the various aspects of her life as a mother and college professor.
“I was a social work practitioner for 17 years before I entered the teaching profession, so I started having kids before I became a professor […] the year I got hired full-time as a professor I also started a Ph.D. program, so I was a mom, a wife, and a full-time student at that point […] there was a lot of pressure there and it takes a lot of physical, mental, and emotional strength,” said Perez.
Perez further went on to talk about maintaining the important relationships in her life all while being a student, mom, and a full-time career woman.
“Being a wife means that my husband needs some attention because you can’t let that relationship go […] so there was that pressure of how I navigate being a student and working full-time but also still keeping these relationships with my husband and my kids […] that meant making some hard choices and sacrifices,” said Perez.
It is important that women have support from those around them when managing all these roles.
“My husband saw the end goal and he stepped up […] I also have a village of women supporting me when I need it […] I also saw the men in my life support the women in their lives and that makes a difference,” said Perez.
Amid the challenges that come with motherhood and being a full-time career woman, there are rewarding moments as well.
“When you see your kid get “it,” whatever that “it” is, whether it is an important lesson or seeing their accomplishments is definitely rewarding […] it’s good watching my kids thrive. It is fulfilling hearing my child say, ‘I watched you grind mom, and you did it,’ said Perez. “Watching the impact I have on students, who I teach and do not teach, is very rewarding as a professor.”
Women constantly face criticisms especially when they are a mother and a full-time career woman.
“As Black women, we get it done and that’s how folks see us […] not giving into society comes with maturity because I learned that the world does not get to define who I am […] I am not everyone’s cup of tea, and that is okay, but I still have to be civil and be kind to others.”
Another incredible super-mom and career woman here at Saint Leo is Dr. Cheryl Kozina. Kozina is an Associate Professor of Biology and has completed two postdoctoral fellowships in the field of DNA damage and repair at the University of Pittsburgh. She started having kids after she became a professor. She is now a proud mom of an 18-month-old baby named Lucy.
“In order to get to where I am today, I did six and a half years in a graduate Ph.D. program and then three and a half years in post-doc, and in both of those situations, I did not see a way to balance the pressure of the hours I would work and a family […] I have friends who did it and most often they were men,” said Kozina.
Kozina enjoys being a mom and she describes it as “fun”.
“My little girl is the best and she is super affectionate and funny, and you see so much of yourself in your kid,” said Kozina.
She also enjoys being a professor and connecting with students here at Saint Leo.
“I have always enjoyed teaching […] you think a lot of your students like family, and I feel this sense of pride when I see my students do well […]” said Kozina.
Many times, women are told that they should get married and have kids as if it is somewhat a rite of passage for them.
“I have been in instances where I felt this extreme pressure to have kids […] it is believed that sometimes, once you’re a woman, you should have kids, which is not always true because women have different reasons to not have kids; fertility issues may be a problem for some women,” said Kozina
Due to Kozina’s scientific nature, she ensures that she does a lot of credible research about how to provide her daughter with the best care instead of allowing society’s criticisms and rules to crowd her judgment.
“You’re going to be judged for everything as a mom […] I try to do everything by evidence because I am a scientist and I am trying to do the best for my child,” said Kozina.
Achieving a 50/50 work-life balance can be hard especially for women who are mothers. Dr. Allyson Marino, an Assistant Professor of English at Saint Leo believes that it is a myth that working parents have “balance”.
“It is a myth that working parents have parents balance […] it’s a day-to-day thing; some days you can juggle everything and prevent things from crashing, and other days you just drop everything […] you have days where I feel like I am not the best parent I can be or I am not the best professor I can be,” said Marino. “Men are not always asked how they balance it all like we women are […] my husband is a professor at Saint Leo, too, and he does not get asked these questions about how he juggles parenthood and a career.”
Marino further explained that she has never received any criticisms about how she chooses to live her life as a mom, wife, and full-time professor.
“As women we internalize criticism […] we fall into traps of judging how we are doing against how other women are doing. It took many years for me to offer myself the same kind of gentleness I extend to others, to forgive and accept the way that it is, and understand that I am doing the best that I can as a mom and a professor,” said Marino.
Marino also stressed the facade that social media, TV shows, and even books create about what it is like to be a mom and balance everything else.
Female professors are sometimes seen as more nurturing than male professors, so even in the workplace they still play that motherly role.
“Women faculty often fall into the caregiving roles more than male professors […] male professors at Saint Leo might not be asked to do the same level of caregiving. For example, helping students with personal situations that are happening in their home, or even pointing them to counselors on campus […]” said Marino.
Work life and motherhood are roles women will always have to juggle throughout their lives. There is no right or wrong way to balance these two tasks. It just takes figuring out what works best for you and your family.
