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Has the global COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted the scholarly productivity of academics? Do gender and parenting magnify its effect? There is a widespread perception in the popular media, as well as in publications on higher education, that women—especially those with small children—have seen their time diverted to caregiving duties (Malisch et al. 2020; Matthews 2020; Miller 2020; Minello 2020; Windsor and Crawford 2020a). If these perceptions prove true, the pandemic’s disruptions could have a long-lasting negative impact on progress for women in academia as individuals and as a group (Stack 2004).
Understanding the gendered impact of the pandemic is important: women have made progress in academia, but their proportion of the professoriate remains lower than their share of PhDs earned (American Political Science Association 2020; National Science Foundation 2019; Windsor and Crawford 2020b). Although men now more often perceive themselves as active parents—which suggests that they also may sense a negative impact on their productivity as scholars—a recent survey shows that women are still doing the bulk of care work during the pandemic (Miller 2020).
We investigated how women and men—both those who are and are not parents—perceive the pandemic’s impact on their scholarly productivity. This early evaluation provides insights that may facilitate effective responses to safeguard the professional advancement of women. To obtain insight into the changes that the pandemic has wrought in lives and careers, we surveyed scholars in political science and international studies (Breuning et al. 2020). The survey was fielded in May 2020, when many academics were experiencing shelter-at-home orders and adjusting to a new reality. Hence, the survey captures initial reactions to changed circumstances as well as the fears and anticipated consequences of the disruptions. We found that substantial proportions of all respondents perceive a negative impact of the pandemic on their productivity and for the status of women. A review of the open-ended responses suggests that the pandemic may reinforce—and possibly widen—a parent productivity gap.
BACKGROUND
Early reports suggest that the pandemic has exacerbated existing disparities among academics (Malisch et al. 2020; Matthews 2020; Miller 2020; Minello 2020; Windsor and Crawford 2020a). Hence, women and parents run the risk of losing ground. Fattore (2018) showed that the status of women has improved but also that much work remains.
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