句子是杨鹏里的，虽然看了解释但是还有地方不明白，请帮忙解释一下谢谢。
These questions are political in the sense that the debate over them will inevitably be less an exploration of abstract matters in a spirit of disinterested inquiry than an academic struggle in which the careers and professional fortunes of many women scholars—only now entering the academic profession in substantial numbers—will be at stake, and
with them the chances for a distinctive contribution to humanistic understanding, a contribution that might be an important influence against sexism in our society.
主要是想问一下and后面的句子结构。书上说chances 和 careers and professional fortunes 这个并列，chances 这句或最后就可以省略will be at stake 吗？ 前面的in which 也可以省略吗？
还有这个with them 应该指代的是questions吧？
