Intersecting Motherhood and Academia: Experiences of International Doctoral Student Mothers in Navigating Dual Paths in Chinese Universities

This study investigates the experiences of 40 international doctoral student mothers (20 STEM, 20 non-STEM) across 18 countries in Chinese universities, examining how motherhood intersects with academic pursuits under China Scholarship Council (CSC) provisions. Through qualitative narrative inquiry, we identified four key themes: idealized maternal-academic identity construction and compliance, the intersection of multiple identities, coping and resistance strategies, and influence of social-institutional support systems. Employing Foucauldian concepts-disciplinary power, biopower, technologies of self, resistance, governmentality, and normalization, alongside structural-functionalism, the analysis revealed how institutional policies and infrastructural gaps operate as biopolitical mechanisms governing reproductive choices. Participants simultaneously internalized impossible maternal-academic standards while engaging in micro-resistances, building informal peer networks challenging institutional individualism and asserting collective solutions to structural problems. Findings demonstrate that comprehensive policy reforms (family-friendly scholarship packages, campus childcare, maternity leave entitlements, extended timelines, supervisory training) are essential for promoting academic success, retention, and gender equity, benefiting both students and institutions while transforming structural barriers perpetuating educational inequalities.