n this study, it is aimed to reveal the experiences of motherhood in the criteria of academic advancement of female academics. The  question of the research is how the motherhood experiences of women academics who have children, who are trying to achieve a balance between career, workplace and family, are in the changing academic promotion criteria. The research was carried out by qualitative research method and the research design was designed as a case study. An in-depth interview was conducted with 10 mother academicians using purposeful and snowball sampling methods. The motherhood experiences of women academics in the academic promotion criteria were collected under 4 main themes and 16 sub-themes in the form of “Domestic responsibilities”, “Responsibilities at work”, “Responsibilities in academia” and “Career planning in academia”. The themes and sub-themes reached were interpreted and examined with cause-and-effect relationships and the results were revealed. According to these results, gender-based roles revealed the efforts of women to establish a work-family balance in work, academia and home life, and the difficulties they experienced negatively affected the academic careers of academic mothers. It has been seen that academic mothers who experience difficulties in climbing the career ladder in the current conditions experience a feeling of complete disappointment and hopelessness along with their new ascending careers. It has been understood that their motivation for work, academia and life has decreased, and they exhibit emotion and behavioral patterns such as frustration and abandonment. Along with the new elevation criteria, anxiety, stress and feelings of inadequacy increased, and new criteria were included in their lives as stressors. Academic mothers who convey the inadequacy of their social support need more support with the new criteria.

It is thought that academic mothers will experience the career plateau more clearly in the new promotion criteria, they will continue to be exposed to the glass ceiling and maternity wall in their motherhood experiences, where traditional dominant roles based on gender inequality are present in the current situation. This situation will not change unless social support networks and society's awareness and awareness of gender equality increase.