Juggling the demands of a career and motherhood : perspectives of an academic in science

Abstract

One of the questions that I am regularly asked is how I have managed to juggle the demands of both 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 those young women who are grappling with the problem. Although I should include men in this equation as these issues should be as important to women as they are to their life partners, my focus here is as a mother and my suggestions are purely from my own personal perspective.