Looking after children and your career

Last year, Nida Rehmani was excited to attend a scientific conference in New York City – her first after the birth of her daughter. Her husband, also a scientist, looked after their 17-month-old daughter as Rehmani, who holds a PhD in biochemistry and works as a fellow at the thinktank Stem Advocacy Institute in the US, scurried from one hall to another to attend different sessions. Some of Rehmani’s excitement faded as she struggled to focus. ‘I remember hearing recurring false alarms [of the toddler screaming] from outside the hall,’ she says. These were probably the child’s giggles or mumbling, she reflects. But after every false alarm, she would check on her daughter.

Parenthood is hard for most people. A 2015 Pew Research Center survey of American parents found that more than 40% of women and 20% of men with children believed that parenthood had hampered their professional growth. However, the problem seems to be particularly acute among scientists. A 2019 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that, between 2003 and 2010, a staggering number of professionals – 43% of women and 23% of men – quit Stem jobs after having their first child.