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While women account for 40 percent of postdoctoral fellows in the life sciences, numbers fall off at the higher levels. A 2008 National Science Foundation study found women holding fewer than 20 percent of full professorships in science and engineering, a phenomenon dubbed the "leaky pipeline." Here, several female researchers at Children's Hospital Boston discuss being pulled between the need to be productive in their research and get funded, and the need to be with family.
Jill de Jong, MD, PhD, in the Division of Hematology/Oncology, spends 80 percent of her professional time researching blood development in a zebrafish model and 20 percent seeing patients.
You have to compartmentalize your life. I have three compartments: research, patient care and home. There's always a big to-do list in each one, but you have to keep them separate and schedule time to do what needs to get done. When I'm in the lab and I have experiments, I need to focus on those.
Without a family, I might have a paper published or present at a meeting sooner. At the same time, my family is important to me. If it's important that my kids have a fun birthday party, I'm going to make an effort to plan the party. If that means taking time at work to make phone calls, I may choose to do that over reading a journal article. Then I'm going to read at home instead.
A lot of my colleagues and I struggle with doing right by our families: "What if I worked part time? What if I took time off and came back?" In research, you can't just jump right back in. The research is moving on with or without you, and it can be really difficult to get started up again, to get background data or funding again. If I were to forego research and be only a clinician, it would be easier to work part time, but in the long run, I think I'd feel less happy and fulfilled. If I'm fulfilled at work, I think I'm a better mom.
Lydia Shrier, MD, MPH, of the Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine, studies risk factors for sexually transmitted disease and the link between mental health and sexual risk behavior. Her husband, Michael Rich, MD, MPH, directs the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's.
Advancement in academic medicine is based on a model of 150 percent devotion to work. It's a linear model in which you build on your previous successes, without gaps, and accelerate your pace over time. When you take this model, which has been successful for hundreds of years, and try to apply it to men or women who would like to live life differently, it doesn't fit.
Systems are slow to change; more often, people will change. They will come up with creative, individualized solutions, opt out or stay in while making great sacrifices. For most working parents (my husband included), work and family roles are not distinct. But a system that treats them as distinct doesn't necessarily flex to consider family issues. A classic example is the mandatory division meeting at 5 p.m. Anybody who has kids can't tolerate that.
The traditional model also values individualism and autonomy: a single person carving their way. But when you're a primary caregiver and also have an academic medical career, you often work in collaborative relationships, with shared responsibilities. I may be second author on 17 papers because I contribute to multiple projects, but it's valued less than being the primary author.
Catherine Chen, MD, MPH, is a pediatric surgeon who researches surgical outcomes in children treated for congenital diaphragmatic hernia and perforated appendicitis, focusing on quality-of-life issues. She has worked at Children's since 1999.
My research happens during any free time that I have. I would absolutely do more if I had more time. The way that it's structured, we all have to be clinically productive to a certain degree. If I were able to get more grants, then I'm sure I could probably tailor my day a little differently and have a bit more protected time.
Early on, I decided to be true to myself. I am happy to work 150 percent of the time when I'm physically here, but it is rare that I'll bring work home. Some people might judge that; I decided I wasn't going to let it bother me. There are only so many hours of the week that I truly have to spend with my children, to understand what they're doing, what excites them, what worries or bothers them. If I brought a stack of papers home, there would be no time to get to know my kids.
Aruna Ramachandran, PhD, in the Department of Urology, is exploring gene expression in human bladder cells.
Research is never "9 to 5," but it's become 9 to 5 for me. I can't afford to pay my nanny for longer hours. We pay close to $4,000 per month for childcare, and that's more than I earn. I wish there were some childcare subsidies available to postdocs. When it's 4:30, I have to catch the bus and make it home.
MDs and clinical fellows can take out loans and have higher salaries. Even if they're in training, they can see a light at the end of the tunnel: They know they'll be very well paid in the near future. It's different for research fellows. You're going through huge amounts of savings, with no guarantee you'll be able to replenish them any time soon.
A leaky pipeline for women? I guess I'm in danger of leaking sometimes. I've seen it happen to my colleagues. Research is so frantic; if you don't publish today or do the research today, someone else will. When a child is sick and you need to take a half day off, your productivity takes a hit compared to someone in the lab who is single and can work on weekends.
At some point, you ask yourself how much stress you want to take. You think, "Fine, let someone else do it. I can't be in two places at once." You can do an experiment, write a grant and move your research forward, or you can go home and spend some time with your kids. It's a tough choice. No one is irreplaceable in the workforce, but nobody can replace you at home. I'm fortunate to have an understanding principal investigator and lab colleagues; I couldn't survive otherwise.
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