Academic Women less likely to have children
Thanks to the blogger Quirky Economist for pointing to this research showing that women academics are less likely to have children.
Particularly relevant I think is this quote from the article:
'Key differences were found with regard to work/home balance: men in the field are more likely to be parents, but women are more likely to be more responsible for child care or other family obligations. For instance, of men who experienced a career interruption, 7.4 percent cited child care as the reason and 3.7 percent cited the experience of being a “trailing spouse,” one who moves when a partner is hired elsewhere. Of women who experienced career interruptions, 22.9 percent cited child care and 9.1 percent cited being a trailing spouse. And women were much more likely (52.9 percent to 5.6 percent) to anticipate a future career interruption due to child care responsibilities.'
As I've mentioned before, women shoulder a disportionate amount of the responsibility for childcare . And we know this as women. We know that if we have kids - it's likely that we are going to be the ones doing more childcare, or sorting it out. So if you are a woman with a glittering career in academia ahead of you, I can see that the decision to have children or not, would be weighted down by the knowledge that it is likely to be your career that faces difficulties, not your partners.
Particularly relevant I think is this quote from the article:
'Key differences were found with regard to work/home balance: men in the field are more likely to be parents, but women are more likely to be more responsible for child care or other family obligations. For instance, of men who experienced a career interruption, 7.4 percent cited child care as the reason and 3.7 percent cited the experience of being a “trailing spouse,” one who moves when a partner is hired elsewhere. Of women who experienced career interruptions, 22.9 percent cited child care and 9.1 percent cited being a trailing spouse. And women were much more likely (52.9 percent to 5.6 percent) to anticipate a future career interruption due to child care responsibilities.'
As I've mentioned before, women shoulder a disportionate amount of the responsibility for childcare . And we know this as women. We know that if we have kids - it's likely that we are going to be the ones doing more childcare, or sorting it out. So if you are a woman with a glittering career in academia ahead of you, I can see that the decision to have children or not, would be weighted down by the knowledge that it is likely to be your career that faces difficulties, not your partners.
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