First off, the medical reasons women take time off are protected by employment law in a variety of ways and most professional careers offer generous paid time off with FMLA protection on their careers. So the biological argument is specious. Note many fathers also get equivalent time off with the mom.

The specialization argument makes no sense. Why does it make sense for the mother to specialize for the family than the man? You made a large unexplained logical leap in that one that I don’t think is defensible.

The reason is economic and tradition at this point. Due to unfair compensation practice that rewards women less for the same work it makes more sense for her to not work. Tradition also compels a lot of couples in this direction. Both of these forces work to take women out of the work force.

The return to work force friction is very sad, and I honestly don’t understand it.