If your performance metrics are based on project attainment and productivity (trackable) rather than hierarchical position power (or the lack thereof as a PTE post-baby), then women might have a shot at trying both.
In the US business culture, unfortunately I think the cultural 'allowance' for women (and all employees) to work in this manner goes organization by organization rather than sector by sector.
This isn't a universal, however.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/oct/21/men-work-...
In the Netherlands, where I lived in 2007, for example, both parents are given 16 weeks paid leave.
In Chile and Cuba parents are given 18 weeks leave paid at 100%. In Albania it's 1 year at 80 percent. The stats are eye-opening, to say the least.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parental_leave
The US? Zero paid leave standard, with 12 weeks option to take unpaid leave according to the FMLA, which does not apply to business that employ less than 50 people (aka many startups).