Aim of the poster is to present a dissertation research project dealing with the topic of harmonizing parenthood and beginnings of a scientific career in course of doctoral studies. It is the period of doctoral studies which presents many women with a question of how to harmonize the beginning of a scientific career with a maternal role. Research focusing on the position of women in science point out, among other, also a fact that the area of harmonizing child care and scientific endeavours, poses for women especially a vital obstacle preventing them from continuation of a scientific and academic career, leading to a consequent abandonment of the scientific track (Červinková 2007;  Maes,  Gvozdanovic, Buitendijk, Hallberg, Mantilleri, 2012; Linková, 2013). Main research question of my study reads as follows: How do early career female scientists with small children perceive harmonization of parenthood and a scientific career in course of the doctoral studies?

Main research question is covered by two theoretical concepts used to view the research phenomenon. The first concept is based on the characteristics of the scientific environment as a space in which the objectivity is emphasized, and in which the scientists are evaluated based on the results of their work. Such an environment is thus based on the idea that factors connected to performance, such as effort of the individual, his activity, abilities, efficiency, diligence, and focus play more important role than the ascriptive factors, such as gender, age, nationality, race, or social background (van den Brink & Benschop, 2012). In defining such an environment, concept of meritocracy comes to play. Critiques of this approach point out that a system operating in such a setting reproduces hegemony structures of inequalities based on gender, race, and class (Castill, 2008; Dovidio & Gaertner, 2000 in van den Brink & Benschop, 2012). Therefore the second concept used to view the studied phenomenon is the concept of gender, which brings to the topic the difference principle. It is the concept of gender which is by many authors considered to be a basic organizational principle having an immense impact on how a workplace as well as a life out of the workplace is organized (Wharton, 2005). Using these two theoretical concepts, I would like to shed some light on how the early stage female scientists perceive their options to harmonize parenthood and a scientific career with regard to the specificities of the scientific environment, and what strategies they prefer in order to harmonize these two areas of life.

Červinková, A. (2007). Na vědecké dráze: příští zastávka „rodičovství“. Pp 26-35. In Šaldová K. (Eds.). (2007). Cesty labyrintem. O vědecké profesi, soukromém životě a jejich propojování. Prague: Sociologický ústav AV ČR. Linková, M. (2013). Nejisté vyhlídky: proměny vědecké profese z genderové perspektivy. Prague: Sociologické nakladatelství (SLON). Maes, K. Gvozdanovic, J., Buitendijk, S. Hallberg, I. Mantilleri, B. (2012). Women, research, universities: excellence without gender bias. Available from: http://www.leru.org/files/publications/LERU_Paper_Women_universities_and_research.pdf van den Brink, M. & Benschop, Y. (2012). Gender practices in the construction of academic excellence: Sheep with five legs. Organization, 19 (4) 507-524. Available from: http://org.sagepub.com/content/19/4/507 Wharton, A. S. (2005). The Sociology of gender: An Introduction to Theory and Research. Oxford: Blackwell.