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Support strategies are needed for women in STEM with childcare responsibilities

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In addition to systemic inequity, the lack of adequate parental leave conditions at many US institutions can negatively affect career trajectories for women in STEM. Support structures are needed at the institutional, departmental and funding agency level to promote the success of pregnant women and parents with childcare responsibilities in academia.

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Fig. 1: Women remain under-represented across STEM fields in academia and face variable parental leave conditions.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the insights, support and comments from S. Bhatia, K. Whitehead, S. Douglas-Green, H. Fleming and T. Samad. We would also like to thank Luke (born 2019) and Charlotte (born 2023), our own children, who have been a major part of our journey in preparing this Comment, for enabling us to see the necessity for systemic change.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Natalie Boehnke

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

    Liangliang Hao

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  1. Natalie Boehnke
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  2. Liangliang Hao
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N.B. and L.H. analysed the data, wrote and edited the Comment.

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Correspondence to Natalie Boehnke or Liangliang Hao.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Related links

Claudia Goldin was awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences: https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2023/10/advanced-economicsciencesprize2023.pdf

National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity: https://www.facultydiversity.org/

NCSES Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering report: https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf19304/data

Paid Parental Leave at US and Canadian Universities: https://aaronclauset.github.io/parental-leave/

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Boehnke, N., Hao, L. Support strategies are needed for women in STEM with childcare responsibilities. Nat Rev Bioeng 2, 96–98 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-023-00145-2

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