Childcare Deserts Impede Scientists’ Career Development and Undermine Gender Equity

Childcare Deserts Impede Scientists’ Career Development and Undermine Gender Equity | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Social Sciences - Article Childcare Deserts Impede Scientists’ Career Development and Undermine Gender Equity Jun Li This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4214208/v2 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Abstract For decades, the United States grappled with a childcare shortage that has left American families struggling to secure quality care, compromising both children's development and parental career progress. Here I investigate the impact of childcare availability—and the lack thereof—on US scientists' career advancement and gender equity in science. I construct a longitudinal database of childcare facilities and their capacities spanning the last twenty years. Leveraging the biennial survey of US scientists and engineers sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), I uncover that over half of US scientists employed at universities and research institutions work in childcare deserts, that is, areas where the supply of childcare falls significantly short of demand. Despite similar exposure to childcare deserts, the career consequences for male and female scientists differ starkly. Women scientists with young children (under six years old within the first six years post PhD) are 5.2 percentage points less likely to achieve tenure in childcare deserts, while no significant association is observed for men with young children on average. Meanwhile, I observe no association between childcare deserts and tenure outcomes for scientists without children, regardless of gender. While reduced available work time partly explains this disparity, there are likely other factors, such as increased fatigue and frequent work disruptions, that could also contribute. Overall, these findings highlight the critical role of expanding childcare availability to enhance research productivity and to reduce the tenure gender gap in science. Scientific community and society/Scientific community/Careers Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Society Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4214208","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Social Sciences - Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":290193903,"identity":"402d88af-bc5f-498c-953e-50df70d21a06","order_by":0,"name":"Jun Li","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAArUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACxgYg8cDAhoGBmYGNAUQSpyXBII0ELWCQwHAYRBGphXlG7jGJhILziWvbmZ89YKiwTmwg6LAZeWkSCQa3E7cdZjM3YDiTToyWHLMbEC08bBKMbYeJ1nIOquUf8VoOQLU0EKOl5435jwSDZGOgX8wkEo6lGxPUYtieY2zw4Y+d7Lbzh59JfKixliWsBUVFAiHlICBPjKJRMApGwSgY4QAAVhs9/75CSCAAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"University of Michigan","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jun","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-04-03 17:30:46","currentVersionCode":2,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4214208/v2","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4214208/v2","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":82812735,"identity":"08dfeded-2833-460b-97eb-9ee53ee745e2","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-05-15 13:45:49","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2410459,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ChildcareDesertImpedesScientistsCareer.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4214208/v2_covered_1f741bb9-903f-4338-9281-9db4f2def0ed.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"Childcare Deserts Impede Scientists’ Career Development and Undermine Gender Equity","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4214208/v2","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4214208/v2","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eFor decades, the United States grappled with a childcare shortage that has left American families struggling to secure quality care, compromising both children's development and parental career progress. 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