The project aimed to build an understanding of how pressures to perform affect the careers of academic knowledge workers with different family situations, especially those who wish to have children and those who cannot (or choose not to) have children.

The purpose of this joint research project was to produce knowledge about the complexity of combining academic career and different family situations in a context characterized by high levels of performance pressures.

The project sought to answer two main questions:

1. How does performance pressure define and affect the academic careers and career choices of knowledge workers with different genders and different family situations?
2. What kind of career inequalities do academic knowledge workers with families face and experience?

The project aimed to answer these questions by conducting surveys in Finland, Sweden, and Norway. The aim of the survey was to gather information on the experiences and opinions of university faculty related both to performance pressure, perceived (in)equality of the academic career, and to how the idea of (not) having a family while working in Nordic academia is constructed in their respective institutions.

The findings will contribute to understanding the challenges and opportunities of combining parenting with knowledge work and will help to create fair policies and practices at both the organizational and societal levels.