Solving the Conference/Child Care Career Conundrum

Academics Propose Guidelines to Remove Barriers for Parents

News
Scientist with child at conference
assistant professor Rebecca Calisi Rodriguez with her daughter in Colorado during an annual conference of the Animal Behavior Society. (Photo courtesy Rebecca Calisi Rodriguez)

A group of female academics is calling on scientific conferences to do more to accommodate nursing mothers and parents to help normalize parenthood in academia — removing a significant barrier to women beginning their careers in science.

“Nursing and child care, most often provided by women, are not a luxury; they are a biological necessity,” said Rebecca Calisi Rodriguez, assistant professor of neurobiology, physiology and behavior at the University of Calif