I think you are reading stuff into my comment that I simply did not say or imply; worse, the things you think I said you describe as &quot;toxic&quot;!<p>I don&#x27;t think side projects are necessary to further your career, and it&#x27;s been 20 years since I worked on one myself.<p>You do make good points that an individual may not have the opportunity to engage in a side project for reasons not related to competence. Your hypothesis that the hardship faced by many women once they have children may contribute to the statistic is well-worth further investigation -- like I said, there&#x27;s many possible hypotheses to investigate, and more than one factor may contribute to the overall outcome. As an interviewer, I&#x27;ve only once seen an outside project on a resume and I considered it a plus; that may have been a mistake on my part.