ABSTRACT Despite a persistent notion that women exit academia due to family responsibilities, research on exits is scarce. Based on 32 interviews, the paper explores how male and female PhDs recount the choice of leaving versus remaining in academia in terms of aspirations, opportunities and constraints. The main question is whether the exit/remain decision reflects gendered work-family strategies in a modern dual-earner society like Sweden. The narratives form a fourfold typology of strategic and accidental stayers, as well as strategic and accidental leavers. The analysis points to assymmetric opportunities connected to both gender roles and internal/external employment prospects. Family concerns formed a prominent reason for exit but problems of job insecurity and care involvement were highlighted by both men and women. Female but not male stayers could forsee obstacles and applied a range of strategies to minimize the impact of family on their careers. All in all, findings did not conform to prevailing notions of female exits but suggest that the academic career system present women and families with complex dilemmas even in a country with supportive policies. In future, exit processes should be furthered studied in other institutional contexts.

中文翻译：

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拥有全部还是避免黑洞？瑞典博士的职业-家庭策略以及离开或留在学术界的选择

摘要尽管人们一直坚持认为妇女由于家庭责任而退出学术界，但有关退出的研究却很少。在32次访谈的基础上，本文探讨了男性博士和女性博士如何从志向，机会和限制方面重新阐述离开学术还是留在学术界的选择。主要的问题是，退出/保留的决定是否反映了像瑞典这样的现代双职工社会中的性别工作家庭战略。叙事形成了战略性和偶然性的留下者以及战略性和偶然性的留下者的四种类型。分析指出与性别角色和内部/外部就业前景有关的机会不对称。家庭问题是离职的重要原因，但男性和女性都强调了工作不安全感和护理参与的问题。女性但不是男性的居留者可以预见障碍，并采取了一系列策略来最大程度地减少家庭对其职业的影响。总而言之，调查结果与女性退出的流行观念不符，但表明即使在一个有扶持政策的国家中，学术职业体系也给妇女和家庭带来了复杂的困境。将来，应该在其他机构环境中进一步研究退出流程。