"Motherhood-the elephant in the laboratory"

Motherhood and the lab----again a complex situation.


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/02/business/02work.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

A comment "we got equality at work, but did not get equality at home"
It is more complex than the "husband does not help at home" reason.

There is also the Larry Summers type comments that we get-- and some stats of course prove the numbers. But what about the cause? That there are fewer women scientists does not mean that women have less scientific ability or aptitude. They have less opportunity or are restrained by other causes.

When I was pregnant for the first time, my nightmares were, "till last month I was sitting in the lab that surely had mercury vapours" or "Till last month, I was inhaling benzene vapours" Indian labs were not -and maybe still are not -the best places for a pregnant woman.
Then when I had the baby(thankfully normal), I was so sure I could just transfer my postdoc to the place I was moving to. But in those days, childcare was a horror story..no right thinking mother would leave her child in those places.
That is why, it is more complex tahn "my husband did not help me raise my child"
One of us had to sit at home and since usually the husband earned much more and had a much better job it was no choice. Our postdocs of Rs800/- could not have bought Farex for 10 days for the kid. This is the story, of many in those days of no childcare.
One friend of mine had a stream of relatives and ayahs coming and going looking after her daughter and managed. She now has a successful career...one of the pioneers in bioinformatics.
Another friend of mine had to care for two kids and as soon as they became old enough to go to school, her mother-in-law became a victim of dementia and needed constant supervision. She would have made a great organic chemist. A physicist friend got married into a very orthodox family who refused to let her work. I don't know what happened after that. One friend got married to her labmate and had a baby during her PhD and now I see both of their names at a research Instt in Europe. She had in-laws who took care of the child.
In short, it is not the system, but INSPITE of the system that some women have managed to have a good scientific career after childbirth.
The country has lost out on a generation of women who would have been good or great scientists.
A quote from another woman scientist

"My only regret was when I realized I couldn’t really continue meaningful laboratory work working alone and part-time. There’s a definite thrill to discovery – analyzing and interpreting data. I think I’ve made my peace with that now – but hopefully the next gen, should they opt to stay home part-time, won’t have to make that king of decision."