Motherhood, the elephant in the laboratory : women scientists speak out / edited by Emily Monosson.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed July 7, 2017).

Includes bibliographical references.

Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- SECTION I -- Balancing Family and Career Demands with 20/20 Hindsight -- Extreme Motherhood You Can�t Get There from Here -- Careers versus Child Care in Academia -- Identities Looking Back over Forty Years as a Social Scientist, Woman, and Mother -- Costs and Rewards of Success in Academia, or Bouncing into the Rubber Ceiling -- One Set of Choices as a Mom and Scientist -- SECTION II -- Three Sides of the Balance -- The Accidental Astronomer -- At Home with Toxicology A Career Evolves

Finding the Right Balance, Personal and Professional, as a Mother in ScienceWhat? I Don�t Need a PhD to Potty-Train My Children? -- Variety, Challenge, and Flexibility The Benefits of Straying from the Narrow Path -- The Balancing Act -- Juggling through Life�s Transitions -- Having It All, Just Not All at the Same Time -- SECTION IV -- Exploring Less-Traveled Paths -- Standing Up -- Because of Our Mom, a True Rocket Scientist -- On Being What You Love -- Parsimony Is What We Are Taught, Not What We Live -- Role Models Out with the Old and In with the New

Geological Consulting and Kids An Unpredictable Balancing Act?Career Scientists and the Shared Academic Position -- SECTION III -- Less Pay, a Little Less Work -- Reflections of a Female Scientist with Outside Interests -- Part-Time at a National Laboratory A Split Life -- The Eternal Quest for Balance A Career in Five Acts, No Intermission -- Reflections on Motherhood and Science -- The Benefits of Four-Dumbbell Support -- Extraordinary Commitments of Time and Energy -- Finding My Way Back to the Bench An Unexpectedly Satisfying Destination -- Mothering Primates

Pursuing Science and MotherhoodConclusion -- Contributors

English.

About half of the undergraduate and roughly 40 percent of graduate degree recipients in science and engineering are women. As increasing numbers of these women pursue research careers in science, many who choose to have children discover the unique difficulties of balancing a professional life in these highly competitive (and often male-dominated) fields with the demands of motherhood. Although this issue directly affects the career advancement of women scientists, it is rarely discussed as a professional concern, leaving individuals to face the dilemma on their own. To address this obvious but unacknowledged crisis-the elephant in the laboratory, according to one scientist-Emily Monosson, an independent toxicologist, has brought together 34 women scientists from overlapping generations and several fields of research-including physics, chemistry, geography, paleontology, and ecology, among others-to share their experiences. From women who began their careers in the 1970's and brought their newborns to work, breastfeeding them under ponchos, to graduate students today, the authors of the candid essays written for this groundbreaking volume reveal a range of career choices: the authors work part-time and full-time; they opt out and then opt back in; they become entrepreneurs and job share; they teach high school and have achieved tenure. The personal stories that comprise Motherhood, the Elephant in the Laboratory not only show the many ways in which women can successfully combine motherhood and a career in science but also address and redefine what it means to be a successful scientist. These valuable narratives encourage institutions of higher education and scientific research to accommodate the needs of scientists who decide to have children.

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