Challenges

Combining work and family life has been a challenge for Dr. Acker. She said that it was possible to do when her and her family originally lived in New York City, but the structure of her husband's work and her new community made it impossible when they moved to Mountainview, California. This proved to be so much of a challenge that she took a few years off of work. One of the ways that she solved this challenge was by having her husband take over many of the housekeeping and child care duties while she finished her dissertation. This particular challenge led her to try and change some of the organizational structures that makes finding work-life balance so difficult.

Another challenge for Acker was finding acceptance in a male-dominated field. She says that the Department of Sociology at Oregon was both welcoming and not welcoming when she first became a faculty member. Certain male faculty members were immensely supportive and understanding, but one in particular gave Acker a very difficult time. Not only did he express his disapproval privately, he also complained in the classroom. Acker overcame these difficulties by simply realizing that there was no alternative to persevering, and with the help of a supportive husband.