With the on-going discussion here of issues involving challenges of careers with children, childlessness, and the subugation of women, this seems like a good opportunity for me to plug a recent publication of mine that may be of interest to some - available for download at: http://biology.queensu.ca/%7Eaarssenl/lab/pdf/Aarssen%20&%20Altman%202006%20Evolutionary%20Psychology.pdf
Aarssen, L. W. and S. T. Altman (2006). Explaining below-replacement fertility and increasing childlessness in wealthy countries: Legacy drive and the “transmission competition” hypothesis. Evolutionary Psychology 4: 290-302. Lonnie Greetings Kristina : I'm a childless (by my own perception of necessity) 40-year old female 7 years out of my PhD - I just recently got a permanent position after a series of post-docs. My take is that a PhD program probably would not discriminate against age - in fact, older more mature graduate students are often very stable and focused. You would probably have more flexibility and freedom to deal with your family while in grad school that when you were in a job. My concern would be that you would experience subtle discrimination when the PhD was finished and you are older and looking for work. On the other hand, if you already have your family established, maybe this would be a benefit as your employer would not have to worry about you "suddenly" leaving and burdening the work place with your absence. In regards to an earlier email, I have repeatedly seen that men with families not only receive higher pay, but the best and more permanent positions with benefits, and more flexibility regarding where they want to work, taking time off, etc. This is totally illegal, but is the norm. Good luck - Becky Kerns
