Asking Big: Creating a Culture of Support for Academic Mothers’ Advocating in Times of Crisis

This essay brings into focus institutional inequities faced by academic parents that stem from the systematic socialization of women to remain silent about their professional and personal needs under ideal circumstances and even more so in times of crisis. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic’s changing higher education policies daily, we argue there has never been a better time for us to ask for more when academic women, especially those identifying as mothers, are suffering professionally and personally. We trace key cultural insights and recent research regarding how the global pandemic has increased the strain that academic mothers feel, particularly BIPOC mothers, before calling on readers to reclaim their right to advocate on behalf of their and their families’ needs. We conclude by defining the culture of asking we seek to foster at our own institution and make recommendations for how readers might “ask big” at their home institutions.