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The Dual‐Career‐Couple Problem

JUL 01, 1999
A type of exclusion principle sometimes operates for married physicists, allowing only one spouse to occupy a job in a given location. Couples are trying to find ways to stay in their chosen fields—and in their marriages.
Laurie McNeil
Marc Sher

Physicists are increasingly faced with a difficult two‐body problem—the challenge of finding two professional jobs, possibly two physics jobs, in the same geographic area. More women than ever are entering the physics profession, and they are preferentially marrying scientists. Naturally, they are seeking employment in the same region as their spouses. Yet, in most locales, it’s difficult enough to find one physics position, much less a pair of them. If one of the two partners fails to find suitable employment, he or she may be forced to forgo a career in physics.

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References

  1. 1. A detailed report on the survey, sample split‐position contracts, spousal hiring programs and links to various resources can be found at http://www.physics.wm.edu/dualcareer.html. The survey report is also on http://www.physics.wm.edu/survey.html.

  2. 2. “Career Characteristics of Doctorate Recipients,” Committee on Women in Science and Engineering, National Research Council (1999).

  3. 3. R. Y. Chu, J. M. Curtin, R. Czujko, American Physical Society Membership Survey, American Institute of Physics, New York, New York (1996).

  4. 4. P. H. Blondin, A. Benedict, R. Y. Chu, American Physical Society Membership Survey, American Institute of Physics, New York, New York (1990).

  5. 5. C. B. de Wet, A. P. de Wet, Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering 3, 203 (1997);
    C. B. de Wet, A. P. de Wet, Geotimes 4, 17 (1995). https://doi.org/GEOTAJ
    N. Adolphi, APS News December, 1995, p. 5.
    J. Lubchenco, B. Menge, Biosciences 43, 243 (1993).
    L. Katterman, The Scientist, October, 1995, p. 16.
    C. Shrady, Geosciences Canada 21, 134 (1995).

  6. 6. D. Goldberg, A. K. Sakai, Ecological Society of America Bulletin, 74 (2), (1993).

More about the Authors

Laurie McNeil. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Marc Sher. College of William and Mary.

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This Content Appeared In
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Volume 52, Number 7

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