Professor Emma Kowal, a Deakin University anthropologist who submitted her PhD when her daughter was seven months old, said building an academic career while being a young mother is extremely challenging. She said workplace settings can and should adjust to help women like herself.

“We know that women are leaving academia in droves in the postdoctoral years,” Kowal said. “This is a terrible waste of talent and a brain drain [that] we can do a lot to address. Letting women work means allowing research funds to cover childcare in the field or when attending conferences. It means providing appropriate and convenient facilities for breastfeeding and pumping. It means flexibility to work from home and virtual participation in meetings.

“Only when we make it easier for women to combine work and parenting can we know that our research workforce is the best out country can have,” she concluded.