I am regularly asked how I have managed to juggle the demands of a family and a career in science. The short answer to the question is ‘with difficulty’ and while this is the easy truthful answer, it does not really help to guide women grappling with the problem. I should include men in this equation as these issues should be as important to women as they are to their life partners. But my focus is as a mother and my suggestions are from a personal perspective.
The first and most important advice I can add to this well-debated topic is that few people are able to focus on more than two time-consuming activities at any time. The ideal situation would be to focus on one core activity but few mothers have this luxury.
The most important message for women with families or women contemplating a family is that they are going to have to make difficult decisions. One cannot resign from motherhood but the amount of time one devotes to the role is in one’s own hands.
