Will the "career woman" be rendered extinct via evolution?

at least one scientist thinks so...

"Only in recent times have women acquired significant control over their own fertility, and many are preferring not to be saddled with the burden of raising children," says Lonnie Aarssen, a Biology professor who specializes in reproductive ecology.

"The question is whether this is just a result of economic factors and socio-cultural conditioning, as most analysts claim, or whether the choices that women are making about parenthood are influenced by genetic inheritance from maternal ancestors that were dominated by paternal ancestors.”

he's basically arguing that women today have inherited traits which emphasize different interests and goals which overshadow the baby-making biological traits.

he feels that the current trend towards rapidly falling birth rates in developed countries (for example, just today in the new york times was an article talking about how germany is panicked at their low birth rates, and is taking steps to correct it through government subsidies) will soon turn itself around naturally, because:

The women who leave the most descendants will be those with an intrinsic drive for motherhood. The ones who would rather forego parenthood in order to have a career, lavish vacations and leisurely lifestyles will of course leave no descendants at all. Over time those genetic traits that influence women away from motherhood will necessarily be ‘bred out.’

In this way future generations of women will inherit a stronger genetic predisposition for mating and having children as a priority in their lives. Dr. Aarssen predicts that an increased desire for marriage and having children, in both men and women, will be an inevitable product of evolution within the next few generations.

Dr. Aarssen concludes:

“The bottom line from a biology viewpoint is: in order to have your genes live on, you’ve got to have kids. If you don’t, then they’re going to disappear."