I recently started an academic position and have been struggling with these issues for several months. I am currently childless, but my biological clock is ticking. I would love to have children and waiting the 5-6 years it takes to achieve tenure (fingers crossed) will put me at the far end of the reproductively capable bell curve. I keep asking myself 'What happens if my productivity slows down after having a baby?'
One option is to ask your department to "slow down your tenure clock", or go up for tenure a year or two later. My question to the list is whether this is discrimination? Is the delay of tenure a professional punishment (lots of good things happen when you get tenure) and should women be punished for having a baby? Or is this a way of compensating for that lag in productivity? I'm interested in hearing if people feel this strategy is a good thing or a bad thing. Tiffany Garcia
