Geoff,

One of the aspects of this issue that has interested me is the comparison of professional womens' experience in science versus other demanding professions such as law, investment banking, management consulting etc. Sometimes it seems that academia can get a little obsessed with its own internal problems and fail to see the connections to (or learn the lessons from) other professions.

I know only a little about this subject. But from my female friends in management consulting and investment banking I understand that the pressure to perform is intense. Employers in these fields acknowledge the personal hardship that an intense job imposes on an individual and his or her family. Some try to structure work so that there is some flexibility. Sabbaticals are not unusual in a professional environment, though exercising your right to a sabbatical does not ensure that you will be able to pick up your career exactly where you left off without some loss of momentum.

One phenomenon I have seen in the private sector (that is totally lacking in academia) is "job sharing". One of the Mom's of a child in my girl's pre-school has such an arrangement with her employer Clorox. She has been "sharing" her job with another woman for the past 3 years - since the brith of her daughter. She enjoys another perk I have not seen in academia: parantal leave. She is due with her third child in January and will be off work until July.

In some respects, professors in universities are like small business owners. While they work in a large institution, they are, more or less, independent operators of their own research programs. There is not a staff behind them to step in when they are absent: they are "sole proprietors" of their research group. And with the need to keep up momentum to keep the research dollars coming in, it isn't surprising that women in research academic positions don't feel like they could avail themselves of any such perks like job sharing or family leave - even if such programs existed. Ironically, I hear from my faculty friends that many of them can't even avail themselves of their opportunity for a sabbatical for fear of losing momentum in the lab. Sadly, the loss of time for personal or professional "renewal" eventually risks leading to burn-out, personal hardship, and, ultimately, sub-optimal performance.

I recently wrote an article about the critical need for scientists and engineers to [carve out time] (http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/careerdevelopment/previousissues/articles/200610_13/opportunitiesstealing_time) in order to maintain health, happines and intellectual creativity.

There are certainly some periods in the lives of both men and women when family priorities can and should take a higher position. Unfortunately, unlike in industry, where one can guide one's career into and out of the rapids as one goes, there is often only "white water" in an academic career.