I would like to thank the graduate student for posting the question and = all of the very interesting responses put forth by male and female = professionals at different stages in their careers. As a successful = tenure tract male molecular ecologist who is the primary care giver of = our 2 child family, I would like to point out that some of us do launch = careers while having families. We had our children during my PhD and my = lovely wife's medical school. What this experience did for us was help = set our work patterns and life priorities while training rather than = after we earned our professional degrees. We are by no means unique in = being able to balance professional careers and family life. In fact, my = postdoc advisor is a very well respected full professor at an Ivy League = University, who just so happens to have started the family after taking = the position and has been extremely successful (great kids and = outstanding career). She is a great role model regardless of your = gender. Clearly there are gender inequalities in our science and I would = submit even larger racial inequalities (in my opinion) in Ecology and = Evolutionary science and wouldn't we all benefit by a thoughtful - well = designed study. We have the observation, so why not formulate testable = hypotheses, collect data, and see if we can start figuring out the = answer. On a side note - deciding when to start a family and career = tracts are very important questions that have to be addressed by each = person individually depending upon your specific situation and life = goals.=20
=20 Humbly submitted by a person who has had 2 male (MS, PhD) and 1 female = (postdoc) mentors who are successful professionally and personally. = Danny Danny J. Gustafson, Ph.D. Department of Biology, The Citadel, 171 Moultrie St., Charleston, SC 29409 http://www.citadel.edu/biology/Faculty/Gustafson.htm Office: 843 953-7876 Fax: 843 953-7264 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
