When giving life to babies brings death to your work

Having children negatively affects women's research output for years, say researchers
Jocelyn Wright
Mother with child

Female medical academics hoping to smash the citation glass ceiling may benefit from financial aid to cover childcare costs so they can network and attend conferences, Australian researchers suggest.

As if the maternity leave spell wasn’t hard enough on a career, new Australian evidence shows that having children, especially two or more, negatively affects women’s research output for years afterwards.