Here is a short article about women in STEM careers being impacted by ‘motherhood penalty’ even before they become mothers.
“Unfounded assumptions about how motherhood affects worker productivity can harm women’s careers in science, technology, engineering and math long before they are – or even intend to become – mothers, we found in a new study.”
“It is well known that women are underrepresented in the STEM workforce, including in academia. For example, women constituted only 20% of tenured professorships in the physical sciences and 15% in engineering in 2017, despite the fact that their share of doctoral degrees in those fields has increased substantially in recent decades.”
“…upon entering the Ph.D. program, men and women were equally interested in working as a professor after finishing their degree. But, by the time of our interviews, women were twice as likely as men to say they had decided not to pursue a career as a professor after all.”
“Several of the women we interviewed said their advisers explicitly told them they have to choose between an academic career and a family and that ‘there’s more to life than babies.’ Women also said they experienced intense pressure to reject, denigrate or hide the mere possibility of motherhood for fear of no longer being taken seriously in the profession. Some went to great lengths, such as hiding medically dangerous miscarriages or strategically telling others that they didn’t intend to have children.”
“Research shows that mothers in high-status, elite professions – ones that demand significant levels of training and long work hours – are no less committed or productive than fathers or childless peers. Yet inaccurate stereotypes persist and are a critical source of discrimination.”
https://theconversation.com/women-face-motherhood-penalty-in-stem-careers-long-before-they-actually-become-mothers-164744
Elaine Korngold, LPC, offers career counseling to help people get more insight into their professional situation, process their emotions related to unfair treatment and develop strategies for moving forward. Elaine can help women struggling with motherhood penalty in their careers. Contact Elaine to learn more.