Kudos to NSF!

Balancing family life and professional work is a hard task, both for men and women. Today's job market and economy is so competitive that scientists and researchers have to put so many hours going extra miles, performing duties not necessarily listed in ones' job description. These can be reviewing papers, proposals, hosting events, mentoring interns, bringing money and resources for one's projects, etc. One cannot simply just sit behind a desk and do their assigned tasks. It is like scientists act as secretaries, accountants, lawyers, lobbyists, marketing specialists, teachers, ... and finally a scientist! This requires sacrificing personal time and family time. While both genders are affected by these, women are hit harder: the years you are supposed to put these efforts to get tenure, establish yourself in a field, etc coincide with when one wants to have family and children, specially after being out of the PhD program. While men may be able to delay parenthood, there is not much women can do about their biological clocks. Also, by nature women are more involved in the child rearing process because of unique tasks required of them from nine months of pregnancy to breast feeding. On the other hand, employers can change other clocks if they are interested in maintaining such skilled and educated work force and not make the already low women/men ratios in STEM fields approach zero.

NSF made a bold move. Now, one can delay, or get a break in, using already won research grant funds due to child birth or taking care of an elderly family. This is similar to universities stopping the tenure clock when one goes on maternity leave and restarting it again when the person comes back. I wish more professional conferences start offering child care services so that mothers could travel with their kids and attend talks and conferences with some peace of mind and without feeling guilty about having left their child in a different city, or simply choosing not to attend conferences or work related trips (the option that is often chosen due to circumstances).

Kudos to NSF for recognizing the values of supporting work-life balance policies and taking steps in addressing this issue by not asking scientists to choose between their jobs and families.

Reference:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/helping-women-reach-their-economic-potential/2011/09/25/gIQA1dODxK_story.html