[zetta]

I'm a female software engineer, and I would caution against a 15 year old girl choosing her career based on what is currently "family-friendly" -- the heavily female careers tend to be lower-paying.

Instead, choose a career based on your skills and passions. Spend college and 7-10 years getting really good at what you do, making a reputation for yourself, and saving money. Then you will be in a position to either take a couple of years off when your kids are small, negotiate part-time status with an employer who values your skills, or retrain and switch careers (with a big chunk of money from your higher-paying career already saved and invested.) Employers may well offer better work/life balance options in 15 years than they do today, so don't necessarily settle for the lower paying "family friendly" jobs now.