Brechann McGoey led a discussion on life history timing. She has kindly compiled detailed notes, and here is her summary:

I presented steps along the road to parenthood, and then parenting itself, and how each might present unique challenges to women in science. I then discussed the evidence about whether motherhood is a significant contributor to the leaky pipeline problem. We then discussed some possible solutions to the barriers faced by people through pregnancy and parenting. (Note that the focus is on having children, but that is not to imply that there are no other, equally important, family responsibilities for academics. The talk mostly focused on the challenges facing academics who can get pregnant, but all parents will bring their own perspective and face their own challenges based on their identities and life circumstances.)

The timing of competition, the length of training, the poor pay for long periods and winner take all setup mean that academia exacerbates social inequalities and expectations that make it harder for women to balance careers and parenthood. The collective result of all of our best choices given the biological, social and academia-related restrictions may be a pattern where women are underrepresented the faculty level.