the opt out revolution

high-powered women choosing to forsake their careers as senior partners and executives to raise the kids of their high-powered husbands. how revolutionary.

clearly balancing work and family is a difficult issue, especially when your husband also has a very successful, time-consuming career. it seems like the workplace is so uninviting to women who are trying to be both successful moms and successful bankers, scientists, ect. that doing both well is not the norm.

i have heard numerous stories of women who were told that they would not get tenure if they had kids. or women staying out of science for a few years and then going back to work in their husbands labs. in the world of cutting-edge science where every week matters, raising a family is damn difficult.

with such a small number of female professors to serve as role models, it's not surprising that so many women end up leaving. although, i would say that this means the system needs to change, otherwise i'll be looking for my neighborhood book club in a few years.