One Woman's Balancing Act

Abstract

The news of the week story “postdoc survey finds gender split on family issues” (Y. Bhattacharjee, 9 November, p. [897][1]) stressed social isolation of female faculty and the lack of high-quality child care. Looking back on a career as a professor and a single parent, I missed out on networking with colleagues and on presenting at conferences because of family obligations. I continued to miss out on these aspects of my career for many years, because, as most parents know, children can be too old to be left alone, as well as too young. (And, in any case, arrangements for overnight conference travel are much more difficult than daytime care.) When I reached middle age, I saw that there were special programs to encourage women who had delayed professional education until their families were grown, but little “catch-up” help for those of us who had been juggling all along. As an emerita and consultant today, I still feel the effect of the networking deficit. However, the Internet has helped me develop useful collegial connections to work with, now that my family tasks are minimal. Judging from the attitudes reported by the NIH survey, I would say that young professional women today are also more likely to benefit from electronic communication than from changes in social attitudes about family responsibilities. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.318.5852.897