Comments

  1. Bronwen Dekker said:

    This is definitely an example of a blogpost where I would reply in more detail if it were possible to comment anonymously!

    My move away from bench research was related to the fact that I wanted to have a child.

    However, the people in my lab who did have children seemed to be very happy, and it did not seem to hold them back in terms of progressing, but I suppose radiochemistry is (on average) a slightly less time-demanding field of research.

  2. walayat shah said:

     Its very interesting that in America people are having less childern due to pressure in science career where all the facilities are available at door step. In the developing world the situation is worst than this. Here people first try to get scholarships for getting higher degrees in science as they cant afford their studies by themselves. They spend number of years outside their family even their country, and when get back they cant adjust themselves very well as they cant find all the facilities needed to continue growing in their career. They have pressure on them form both the employer and family, and ultimately many of them decide not to get married at all. I personally few cases in one of the leading university of Pakistan where the top scientists with number of publications and awards in science are living bachelor life and are heading to the end of their lives. Their social life is almost ceased and their family ties are very week. I personally could not leave for my parents

  3. Christina Hirota said:

    My husband and I are both 33 year-old Canadian post-docs. My husband does not want to consider having children until he has secured a more permanent position (i.e. academic faculty). Although I will not likely pursue a faculty position, this situation definitely has me looking at the potential for motherhood much later (if at all) than I would have chosen if this were not the case.

    I am interested in hearing related stories from other couples both actively involved in research. Do the results from the above-mentioned study account for whether the spouses of the scientists surveyed were also in research? Certainly, the results mentioned are not all that surprising, although the fact that both men and women with children keep similar hours on average should be good news to PI’s. Either way, 54 hours a week leaves precious few waking hours for spending time raising a family!

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  4. walayat shah said:

     Its very interesting that in American people are having less childern due to pressure in science career where all the facilities are available at door step. In the developing world the situation is worst than this. Here people first try to get scholarships for getting higher degrees in science as they cant afford their studies by themselves. They spend number of years outside their family even their country, and when get back they cant adjust themselves very well as they cant find all the facilities needed to continue growing in their career. They have pressure on them form both the employer and family, and ultimately many of them decide not to get married at all. I personally few cases in one of the leading university of Pakistan where the top scientists with number of publications and awards in science are living bachelor life and are heading to the end of their lives. Their social life is almost ceased and their family ties are very week. Amongst the married majority has one or two kids and i think if such survey is conducted here the results will be not much different than that of America or other advanced coutries.

  5. Colleen Noviello said:

     My husband are are also both 33 year old post-docs, with one 2 1/2 year old son and another on the way. I am definitely not pursuing tenure-track positions, because I want to be the primary caregiver to my children. I plan on working, but either on the bench or off the bench is something that will be determined by where my husband gets his tenure-track position. On-site daycare would be great, but the bottom line is that I don’t want to spend 10-12 hours a day away from my kid(s), so I don’t think the faculty track is for me.