Motherhood and Science 101

Juggling a demanding career in academic science and raising children is no easy task. So three women scientists at the Weizmann Institute decided not to complain about it and instead do something—and made their lives even busier by creating a course for female students on managing the challenges of parenthood as a principal investigator.

“The idea was: Why don’t we give students the benefit of our own experience? We had all wished we had such a course when we were in that situation,” says Prof. Michal Sharon of the Department of Biomolecular Sciences. Prof. Sharon initiated and runs the course together with Prof. Maya Schuldiner of the Department of Molecular Genetics, Prof. Nirit Dudovich of the Department of Physics of Complex Systems, and Orit Viterbo, Head of Social Services, with funding from the President’s Advisor for Advancing Women in Science, Prof. Daniella Goldfarb.

The course, which consists of six sessions, focuses on practical solutions for managing a career and family, and emphasizes open communication with their advisors, and setting realistic expectations.

“We are part of a culture in which, as women, we are pushed to be perfectionists,” says Prof. Schuldiner. “To be the best mother ever. The best scientist ever. “We say, 'You don’t have to be best at one or the other. You can be happy about the way you mother and happy about the way that you do science, and you can combine them in a way that is optimal for you and not the outside world.'”

Sometimes, what matters most is simply knowing there are other women in the same position. “When a student feels her situation is impossible, even if it doesn’t directly help solve her specific problem for the day, knowing that other women—women who eventually succeeded in their careers—have faced the same difficulties, it gives her some perspective,” says Prof. Dudovich.