09/08 (IPS) – The percentage of women underrepresented in the study is fully documented. Emerging evidence shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these inequalities and disrupted research work globally.
But none of these studies, mainly from global northprovide detailed explanations for the scale of this decline.
Ours research provides the first comprehensive study to elucidate the complex reasons for the drop in research during lockdown enforcement.
We surveyed 2,029 female academics from 26 public universities in South Africa. Other learn pointed out that there is a growing expectation that women take on the role of primary caregiver in the family and sacrifice part of their career for this role. Similarly, women in academia are expected to fulfill this role in look after the studentsassume greater responsibility for teaching and learning than men.
Overall, our findings suggest that having younger or more dependents at different educational stages and homeschooling needs has a negative impact on female student outcomes. Competing roles such as online teaching and student care, coupled with a sharp increase in teaching time, have placed a heavy burden on female students. Their research results were affected.
Women also acknowledge the lack of emotional support they receive while working in their studies.
What we found
The most important factor influencing the academic performance of female scholars seems to be having younger or more dependents in the home. Overall, the pandemic has most affected the academic work of women with children. Of the respondents in our study, 54% said they had children at home with them.
From our study, it is clear that the age and educational stage of children is a significant contributing factor to the decline in female student productivity. Toddler care needs and schools’ expectations of homeschooling have taken their toll. Academic moms get caught up in the demands of competing roles. These include teaching online, nurturing vulnerable students, comforting anxious children, caring for toddlers, and finding time to research and write.
A key finding in our survey was a sharp increase in the need for instructional time during course time. This takes up the time that female academics have devoted to research. Scientists perform a variety of roles, including teaching, doing research, writing funding proposals, administrative duties, and other duties depending on their rank and field of study. Our survey shows that the distribution of teaching and research is completely unequal.
Our research suggests that the pandemic affects researchers differently according to their field. Those in the “preparatory sciences,” such as chemistry, biological sciences, and biochemistry, have explicitly stated that closing laboratories or facilities affects their research productivity. Disciplines of less lab and more use of equipment are also affected. But these cases are often related to individual circumstances such as the possibility of fieldwork in specific social science fields.
Most women (75.1%) indicated that carrying out their academic work (teaching and research) was “somewhat difficult” to “extremely difficult” during the closing period. About 16% reported that it was easier. As further analysis of the participants showed that the job was easier, it became clear that these perceptions were correlated with the following factors: having children and their age; career stages; travel conditions; and arrange work before the lockdown.
Overall, a total of 40.5% of participants said they needed more – or significantly more – emotional support as practitioners working to cope with the demands of Work. Some respondents expressed a constant feeling of burnout. This reduces their ability to focus and be productive. Feelings of despair and feelings of unfairness in the allocation of workloads were key themes that emerged from our data.
Lockdowns have had a profound effect on women’s academic performance – 31.6% said “no progress”. More than one in five indicated they had made “some progress” in completing an important learning product. This will likely affect the academics’ prospects for advancement and advancement.
Career prospects
A large number of women in our study (48.1%) indicated that the course would negatively affect their academic career prospects. This highlights the need for organizations to monitor the impact of the pandemic and provide support.
Leaders in educational institutions should note that female teaching staff see closures as another barrier to equity. They also need to consider the impact of the pandemic on career challenges in hiring and promotion decisions.
A major theme that has emerged is how important the role of female academics as nurturers is in the intersecting functions of caring for students and their families during the pandemic. Our research shows how the emotional, psychological, and educational needs of students draw academic women into far-reaching nurturing roles, beyond taking care of their families. This has had a negative impact on academic work.
It also shows the workings of the symbiotic relationship between caring (of female academics) and requesting care (of students) during a pandemic. More, research highlights the precarious nature of the work of women studying in the context of the pandemic.
Go forward
Although respondents in this study live in South Africa, this is evident – and research in advance – that the pandemic has had an impact on academic business globally.
The pandemic poses a lasting threat to gender equality in academia. We call on institutional leaders, scientific councils, academic associations and funding agencies to implement policies to reduce the occupational risks faced by female academics during the embargo. effective.
Not only the introduction of new policies, but also the attitude towards those policies need to be taken into account. Achieving gender equality in academic enterprise requires institutional commitment, as well as the knowledge and capacity to achieve organizational change.
Cyrill WaltersResearchers, Stellenbosch University; Armand BamHead of Social Impact and Senior Lecturer, School of Business, Stellenbosch Universityand Patrizio PirainoEconomist, University of Notre Dame
This article was republished from Conversation under Creative Commons license. Read original article.
© Inter Press Service (2022) – All rights reservedOrigin: Inter Press Service
