Maternal and Professional Identity Development of Working Mothers in Student Affairs

Abstract

The field of student affairs demands significant time and expertise, often involving long hours and low pay. As more women enter this profession, understanding how working mothers navigate its unique demands is essential. Although literature on working mothers in higher education has grown, limited attention has been given to how motherhood shapes professional identity in student affairs, where irregular schedules, crisis response, and relational care work intensify these dynamics. This narrative study examined the experiences of four women in student affairs—each with adult children and at least 10 years of professional experience while raising their families—to explore how they reflected on and integrated their maternal and professional identities. Through narrative analysis, we identified four themes that capture how participants navigated and made meaning of these intersecting roles: finding one’s own path to balance, fostering mutual growth through motherhood and student affairs, applying critical thinking across roles, and advocating for what matters at work and at home. These findings highlight how working mothers leverage skills, values, and insights across domains, offering implications for creating more flexible, inclusive organizational cultures and for advancing human resource development (HRD) scholarship on identity integration and work-life dynamics.