Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, head of the Ruth Institute, made an interesting observation at a conference on demography and public policy. As women have entered the labor force, they have tended to fit themselves into a man’s career cycle.

When mostly men made up the labor force, the energy of young adulthood was the driving force in careers.

Young adulthood, however, is for women the ideal time to birth and rear children. Women are fitted with a biological clock that men don’t have.

We’re all different, of course, with different reactions to the seasons of life. Some women successfully birth and rear children in their thirties or even early forties. Others manage both career and family in their younger years. Some careers lend themselves to work at home or part time hours. Nor are all women called to become mothers.

Nevertheless, women remain the life producers. Get rid of motherhood and we become extinct. For the first few years of a child’s life, the mother appears the more essential parent for the child. It’s suggested that children who are breast fed for up to a year have an advantage over those who are not.

Perhaps we should make it easier for those women who choose motherhood to do so in early adulthood. After early nurturing, fathers might take on more child care while mothers add other interests, including careers. That would vanquish the “empty nest” syndrome as well as encourage men into a more balanced life. The old pattern of the career cycle may be outdated, even for men. Or for singles who want permission to drop out once in a while.