Parenting in the field of myrmecology: career challenges in the 21st century

Female representation in STEM fields is often explained by the leaky pipeline metaphor, and previous work has shown that the arrival of children is one of the main causes. Thus, understanding how the arrival of children can impact the careers of scientists in the field of myrmecology could provide insight into how to promote a better policy to support women in the sciences and reduce gender disparity. Therefore, we aimed to 1) understand myrmecologist parents and identify the challenges they face, and 2) compare academic productivity between parents and the control groups (researchers without children). Our results indicate that even though myrmecologist parents work less at home, they maintain productivity in activities that are part of the regular academic research routine (such as publishing manuscripts, submitting grant proposals, advising mentees, and teaching classes). However, even after five years of their children’s arrival, activities such as field trips, public speaking and conference attendence are still affected. This is the first study about parenting in the field of myrmecology, and our findings can help funding agencies and institutions promote the best policies, workplace flexibility, and inclusivity to support parents in science, especially women.