Medical professionals delay childbirth to avoid career setbacks

When one of my seniors from medical school was pregnant during her surgical residency, she planned the exact date of her C-section so she could complete her training on time. When I asked why she didn’t consider taking maternity leave to recuperate afterwards, she said she couldn’t bring herself to lag behind her peers. “I didn’t want motherhood to slow me down,” she said.

In medicine, it is common for women to delay childbearing until after their early career years, often into their mid-thirties or later. When I speak to friends in professional careers such as law, accounting and consulting, they echo a similar sentiment.