Ten simple rules for a mom-friendly Academia

Women (and all gender-discriminated people) are underrepresented in science, especially in leadership positions and higher stages of the scientific career. One of the main causes of career abandonment by women is maternity, with many women leaving Academia after having their first child because of the career penalties associated with motherhood. Thus, more actions to help scientific moms to balance family and academic work are urgently needed to increase representation of women and other gender discriminated people in Academia. Besides mothers, these rules may also benefit other groups such as mothers-to-be, fathers, caregivers, and women in general. Increasing women representation in science, including mothers, is critical because equality is a fundamental right, and because more diverse working environments are more productive and get to more optimal solutions. Here, we describe 10 simple rules that can be adopted in Academia to halt the abandonment of scientific careers by women after motherhood. We strongly encourage their implementation to increase gender diversity and equality in science.Author summary: Although there is an increasing awareness of the importance of having more diverse scientific communities, the number of women in science is still low. A large proportion of the women who leave their academic career do it because of problems with reconciliation when they become mothers or try to. Therefore, there is a need for more family-friendly academic institutions. Here, a group of moms in science propose 10 simple actions that can be adopted by Academia to directly support mother scientists, (and, indirectly, families in general) and avoid losing them from Academia. We use the term “mothers” for simplicity, but it includes all the groups whose gender identity has an intersectional situation with “maternity,” such as people giving birth (moms and trans dads), trying to give birth, or being primary caregivers of children. Finally, the implementation of the rules may also be beneficial for other researchers (mothers-to-be, fathers, caregivers, and women in general), thus helping to create more diverse Academia.