Childbirth vs. career timing is a whole can of worms, but I wanted to point towards a different perspective than the one assumed in this post. There’s an Atlantic article Why Women Still Can’t Have It All (which is somewhat well known among woman academics, I think) by Anne-Marie Slaughter in which she points out the blindspot of prioritizing childbirth timing, and not properly considering the timing of when your children are teenagers, and in turn when you’ll be an empty nester. To quote her,
“I had my first child at 38 (and counted myself blessed) and my second at 40. That means I will be 58 when both of my children are out of the house. What’s more, it means that many peak career opportunities are coinciding precisely with their teenage years, when, experienced parents advise, being available as a parent is just as important as in the first years of a child’s life. Many women of my generation have found themselves, in the prime of their careers, saying no to opportunities they once would have jumped at and hoping those chances come around again later.”
Childbirth vs. career timing is a whole can of worms, but I wanted to point towards a different perspective than the one assumed in this post. There’s an Atlantic article Why Women Still Can’t Have It All (which is somewhat well known among woman academics, I think) by Anne-Marie Slaughter in which she points out the blindspot of prioritizing childbirth timing, and not properly considering the timing of when your children are teenagers, and in turn when you’ll be an empty nester. To quote her,