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Wage Corner
by Anne J. MacLachlan
DUAL CAREER COUPLES
The problems of dual career couples are far from over despite the willingness of some university administrations to say in advertisements that they are supportive of the needs of dual academic career couples, and even when positions have been set aside to be used for partners. This problem exists at every rank and will remain difficult to solve because of the complex nature of dual careers. Anecdotes about dismal situations abound. An article in The Chronicle of Higher Education describes a recent case in which a woman admitted to a search committee at the end of an on-campus interview that yes, she had a husband, and he was independently applying for a position in another department. After being the first choice she was eventually told that if her husband got the job, she could apply for an adjunct position. In another case, a woman who, 20 years ago, succeeded in getting a position at the same university at the same time as her husband watched her salary sink every year relative to her husband´s.
There is no universal solution, but there can be happy endings. However, these depend on the kind of strategies a couple initially adopts. In general, for assistant professor applicants it is a good idea if both independently pursue positions that look appropriate. When the likelihood of an offer emerges and an on-campus interview occurs, that is the time to raise the issue that there is a partner who will need a job. Naturally it can be dangerous to do so because the initial position may vanish. On the other hand, if the second person is not mentioned and the job is offered, it is then very difficult for a department or a college to negotiate for a second position even if it is willing to do so. Partners have succeeded in finding jobs at institutions within 50 miles of one another, and even just down the street. One couple with five children succeeded with this strategy and, because of childcare responsibilities, began their positions with a lighter teaching load for both. In another case, a woman with a non-academic husband received the offer that the college would attempt to place the husband with its contractors and if that failed would pay to send him to its (expensive) business school for an MBA.
Fortunately, since the issue of dual career couples is now recognized as
needing to be addressed, there are many places to turn for ideas about how to deal with your
particular situation. Most of these are on the Web, although an excellent book provides
background to all the related issues, Marianne A. Ferber and Jane W. Loeb´s Academic
Couples: Problems and Promises (University of Illinois Press, 1997). The situation of humanist
couples is addressed chiefly in the Careers Section of The Chronicle of Higher Education:
www.chronicle.com.
The real activity seems to be amongst scientists. A comprehensive site has been established by the American Physical Society:
http:// www.physics.wm.edu/dualcareer.htm.
The easiest access to all resources in science is Nextwave (however, it does require a subscription):
http://nextwave.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2003/03/06/10
One of several useful links in Nextwave is Purdue´s Spousal Relocation Center:
http://www.purdue.edu/humanrel/HTML_Files/SpousalRelocation
Less fortunately, unaddressed issues still lurk. How do couples who have accepted unequal positions at a university get the less equal position regularized? How useful is it to manipulate outside offers to get a partner a better job? What is the situation at specific institutions about gay couples? At California colleges, at least, that doesn´t seem to be a great problem, the difficulty is this is not an issue anyone has researched. Much uncertainty remains. Do you have a dual career couple story? Please let me know. Send mail to wage@wage.org with the heading "dual career couples." Thanks!
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