Scientists and Children, New Article
Dear Friends of Women in Science,
Khalil Cassimally, the Nature blogosphere director, alerted me to a new article in PLOS One by Elaine Ecklund and Ann Lincoln at Rice University, on results of a survey about male and female scientists' attitudes towards children. You can view it here. The article supports an idea we have debated, in that postdocs' decisions to leave science have a partial basis in their wish to have more children. Scientists' diffiulty in having children negatively affects their life satisfaction, and indirectly also affects their career satisfaction. The biggest surprise in this article for me was these attitudes were not just found among women. Men also evaluated science as decreasing their ability to have children, and it also impacted their satisfaction. To quote the abstract, "Family factors impede talented young scientists of both sexes from persisting to research positions in academic science." We worry about the supply of future US scientists, and this article means that if we do things to improve the retention of women in science by making academia more family-friendly, as at least some industry sites have done, we can also improve the overall attractiveness of science careers.
I hope you'll take a look at this article and give it some thought. Then I hope you'll send it to the administrators at your university and to the women's activitist trying to get child care. Kudos to industry, and a good lesson for academia as far as I can see. Let me know what you think!
cheers,
Laura
Hi Helen,
How interesting! They say it's the money, but they want to get them money to support their desire for family. I should have thought of that myself, but I didn't. Thanks for pointing that out!
cheers,
Laura
Hmmm. It's all in how you word the questions. The same percentages come up again and again no matter where you poll. The Caltech Postdoc surveys conducted in 2000 and 2002 show the same %s as this larger survey.
But in that survey the big reason men left academe was the money and not family as it was for the women. We gave them the choice (money/family) to state which was more important and to then explain why they chose a particular reason. What we found was that as bread winners they wanted the money for their family. So essentially it was as these authors describe. They put their family first. And having more children made the situation more urgent for them. For women it was the option to have children at all.
If the men polled in this survey are finally comfortable saying it is family that is driving their decision...I'm thrilled as the result provides real leverage to enact family friendly policies that will benefit the organization as a whole and not just women. That's the only way to get long term change in those institutions IMHO.
I can believe the survey. I have hired several postdocs for industrial position who were leaving academia because they were ready to "grow up", that is marry, buy a house, have children, etc. Although money is clearly a critical part of the equation, prolonged postdocing can postpone life for both men and women.
I too believe that the problem is more prominent in women, but even men get tired of living like grad students.
I've heard male postdocs talk about institutional prestige too, but yes, mainly money I think. Not sure whether they feel it and do not say it, but I never heard a word about kids.
I've heard men complain about money, mainly. Many of the male postdocs at my institution already have 2-3 kids so it doesn't seem like they are held back from having children. Women have none or 1 usually.
I've heard a very few men say things like this, but perhaps answering a survey makes it easier to admit such feelings than talking with other scientists. I have heard this over and over from women scientists, sadly. But if we fix it for one, we fix it for all, so I hope administrators take this to heart and support more child care, child care for grad students and postdocs, paid leaves, etc. FBP
I just can't believe this is right. Competitive salaries is the only reason I've heard from men who've moved into MBA programs and things like that. I've never heard a word about families.
