“If children are shutting down woman’s career growth and these pervasive effects vanish after the mid-30s, then we should start taking seriously the case for employer-covered fertility treatments.”

As someone who was lucky enough to have my kids at 38 and 40 without need for fertility intervention, I do not think that the solution to the career growth issue should be to encourage women not to have children until their late thirties. I am financially secure, but I wish I had started raising children a decade ago rather than investing the energy of my youth into late nights at my job. I feel like I would be doing much better by the little ones (now 2 and 4) — less tired, less grumpy, more up for exploring and trying new things — not to mention that I would be more likely to be around for more of their lives.

(This isn’t to say that employers shouldn’t cover fertility treatments. But there shouldn’t be institutional or societal pressure put on women to wait until their late thirties “because anyway the company/insurance will cover fertility treatments if you need them!”)