If your daughter chooses to major in science or engineering, you will probably feel proud and happy. It means your child has special talents, and once she finishes college or graduate school, jobs abound.

If, however, you happen to read recent statistics about female scientists with children, you may also feel worried and confused.

Is a woman in science or engineering less likely to have children? If she has children, is she more likely to drop out of her career? Must she choose between her dreams: science children?

Questions about the future can’t be answered definitely, especially with current statistics. But recent data suggest that women in science and engineering do operate under certain handicaps.
Kimberlee Shauman, assistant professor of sociology at UC Davis, traces the education and career paths of female scientists in her recent book, Women in Science: Career Processes and Outcomes, co-authored with University of Michigan researcher Yu Xie.

By carefully studying data on the career progress of women, Shauman learned that, although women who major in science graduate at the same rate as men, many fall behind in their career paths during the child-bearing years, which coincide with graduate school and a first job. Marriage doesn’t slow their progress, but children do.

Young scientists need to travel to attend conferences and nail down new jobs. Having children, Shauman says, means that “women are less likely to be geographically mobile, especially in the early years of their career.” They may have less time to work and to secure funding than their male counterparts have.

Given these problems, how should parents respond to a daughter with a scientific bent? If your heart tells you not to talk her out of her dreams, many women in science would agree with you.

One woman’s story

Pam Ronald, professor of plant pathology at UC Davis, made groundbreaking discoveries related to rice disease resistance and recently received $4.3 million for further research. She is the mother of a girl and a boy, ages 4 and 2.

She bristles at the idea that a young woman should alter her goals. Mothers may need to limit their travel or miss a funding cycle or two, she says, “but having children doesn’t stop you dead cold. It may slow you down a bit, but that’s true for men and women.

“The difference is that men usually have more help at home, so their careers are less impacted. Looking at your whole career, it’s really just a short time that you have young children, and you want to enjoy it.”

“I’ll tell you a secret,” she adds. “I’m going to Shanghai soon for an important four-day meeting, and my husband’s parents are flying in for an extra round of babysitting—to surprise him for his birthday.”

“We really couldn’t do everything without my parents and my husband’s parents,” she explains. “They think they’re helping us so we can rest. I don’t think they realize they’re helping us with our careers.”

Ronald also credits her co-workers—independent, hard-working graduate students and lab managers—with offering needed support.

“We lost our first baby during the sixth month of pregnancy. One thing that kept me going was working from home while my staff kept things running smoothly. Work distracted me from my grief. That’s also when I learned to rely on and appreciate my community.”

First in her community is her husband, who works 60 percent on campus, 40 percent at home. “Pick a husband who likes to cook,” advises Ronald, smiling. On a more serious note she adds, “Pick one who values your career as much as his own.”

Different times, different experiences

Thirty years before Pam Ronald decided to have children, Phyllis Wise faced similar dilemmas and more. Now dean of the Division of Biological Sciences, Wise got her undergraduate degree at Swarthmore College where she found no women science professors in the 1960s.

When she started graduate school and approached the scientist she wanted as her adviser, he said, “I don’t take women. They get married and have children, so it’s a waste of my time.” Wise changed concentrations, found another mentor (“a brilliant and very supportive man”) and kept going.

Women’s prospects have improved greatly since then. Arriving two years ago at UC Davis, Wise found women “in very prominent places,” including the provost, vice chancellors and several deans. She views them as a major source of encouragement.

“I think the unspoken word is as powerful as the spoken word in telling young women what they can and cannot do. Just having enough of us around is a strong message that it’s possible, respected and exciting to be in a position of leadership.”

Back in the 1970s when Wise took her first faculty position, female mentors were rare, and she had to look hard for a community with good day care. Even though her husband shared equally in raising the children, Wise reports that her “overwhelming feeling was one of guilt.”

Believing she should spend more time with children and more time at work, she didn’t allow herself other activities. “I went to work. I did my work. I went home. I rarely took coffee breaks, and yet the men did that,” she says.

She reached every career marker “on time” but no longer advises other women to do it that way.

“My view right now,” says Wise, “is that you smell the roses along the way. Speed should not be a priority. Being fulfilled by your work and doing it right are much more important than doing it fast.

“I wish I had sought out other people, shared experiences and asked them more. I tended to be a loner, thinking that I had to do this on my own and that to ask was a sign of weakness.”

Recently, her daughter, 26, asked for help changing careers. Wise offered encouragement and money for school. To other parents, she says, “Don’t decide for your student what she should be doing, but offer support, including financial support, if you are able.”

She advises young scientists to be pro-active. If women opt to take breaks or stop the “tenure clock” when having children, they should state their intentions ahead of time. “Let people know that you’re doing this on purpose. You’ve made an active decision.” If supervisors have been notified, they won’t misinterpret slowing down as a lack of dedication.

In Wise’s view, the effort is worth it. “I think science is a wonderful career for both men and women. Trying to discover something new. Never repeating. Always learning. Not the life of Riley, but perfect for me.”

A sociologist’s advice

Kimberlee Shauman, the sociologist whose book traced the career paths of female scientists, urges women to look below the surface when choosing a career. “Women are often misinformed about which jobs are family-friendly. Is being a nurse or a teacher family-friendly?” she asks. A career in academia can be much more flexible.

At the same time, institutions should improve working conditions. Shauman points out that government funding cycles could be less rigid, and universities could provide more research support for new faculty members, so they don’t have to rely so heavily on grants.

Until that happens, parents can help their own young scientists, not by pressuring them in one direction or another, but simply by understanding the problems they face.

Even as undergraduates, young women should be encouraged to join organizations for female scientists or engineers, says Shauman, adding, “If you go into this career thinking, ‘This is going to be a breeze,’ you’re more likely to quit when you hit a rough patch. But if you go into it well informed, knowing there are times when it will be very difficult, you’re more likely to persist.”

Knowing the challenges women face, Shauman will still be happy if her own daughter, 4, chooses science. “I know she could get a lot of joy and satisfaction from science,” she says. “The most rewarding careers are hard.”

Marion Franck is a Davis writer and regular contributor to campus publications for parents.