I recently read an article about careers in which women are least likely to have children. When I clicked on the link I did not expect to see that our profession, optometry, was at the very top of the list! Taking the number 1 spot, this article noted that 47% of women ODs do not have kids!
When I decided to take the optometry career path, one of the main things that attracted me to this specific medical profession was that it seemed to allow for a flexible schedule that would be conducive to raising a family. For most optometrists, the hours are pretty similar to most other professionals, Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm (of course with some variation). We don't typically have emergency on-call situations, late shifts, or crazy schedules, so this data surprised me.
Not to mention, myself and many of my optometrist friends have all begun to start families over the last couple of years. And we've been able to manage our work and family schedules quite well.