This chapter discusses the results of the research providing an account of the lived experiences of academic women, tracing their socio-economic backgrounds in order to understand how it influences career outcomes, at the same time considering challenges stemming from socio-cultural expectations and gender stereotypes. Quantitative and qualitative data collected show that female academics mostly belong to privileged socio-economic backgrounds, especially when parental education is considered. The survey conducted in a Jordanian public university highlights in particular the role of wasta in shaping career paths and outcomes, whose darker side, in terms of nepotism, is underlined by the analysis of surnames. In-depth interviews, organized across four intersectional spheres, reveal the impact of patriarchal socio-cultural values on women’s academic life, especially concerning private caregiving activities, whose burden can also lead women to self-withdraw from the most time-consuming academic activities. At the same time, universities can represent specific spaces for the construction of a personal capital, partially detached from familiar networks, at least at the symbolic level. The extent to which this can be exchanged in the private or in the public sphere is thus explored through women’s voices.