While high-quality daytime care is an essential support to working scientists who are parents of young children, neither extended hours nor government subsidies is a solution to the under-representation of women in academia,1 because neither addresses the root cause of the problem: Women want to mother their children, not simply give birth. To suggest that women will succeed if only they could gain more time away from their children is to confuse childcare, which the market can supply, with parenting, which it will never be able to provide.
Women are faced with a choice between minimal time with their children, coupled with perpetual exhaustion in meeting work and family demands, or the prospect of falling behind one's colleagues while investing the substantial time required for responsive parenting. Most women with family desires ultimately reject scientific careers, because they rightly view both these options as unsatisfactory, yet lack an alternative pathway ...
