The discourse on research productivity during the early months of the COVID-19 crisis has been dominated by quantitative examinations of manuscripts published since the outbreak of the pandemic. Existing findings highlight that women scholars were publishing less and less than men, but few considered the reasons behind this phenomenon. This paper offers new empirical insights into the experiences and perceptions of women scholars during the early stages of the pandemic, helping us understand why they have been seemingly less productive during this time.We coded qualitative questionnaire responses from 101 women scholars from across the world, using an inductive thematic network approach, adopting a feminist lens to examine women’s experiences (and social roles in and outside of academia). Our findings illustrate the centrality of support with respect to childcare, professional-emotional support from peers and mentors lost due to stay-at-home orders. Restricted access to institutional facilities, resources, subsequent loss of structure, additional time required to prepare for online teaching, and increased service load have negatively impacted research productivity. For many women, these factors are compounded by poor mental health with high cognitive and emotional tolls, resulting in depleted resources for the highly intellectually demanding research and writing activities. Conversely, some women scholars, particularly those without care responsibilities, reported reduced commutes, fewer meetings, and flexible working hours, resulting in unchanged or increased research productivity. As the impact of the pandemic is ongoing, it is critical to assess the underlying causes of reduced productivity of women scholars to mitigate these effects.
Bringing our collective experiences of past collaborations through a virtual connection, we created an international research team of 16 multidiscipline, multicultural, and multilingual academic women called “COVID GAP” (Gendered Academic Productivity) to explore the ongoing challenges and effects of COVID-19. Identifying as insider researchers, we engaged in a two-phase, primarily qualitative research project to better understand the lived experiences of academics during the pandemic. Our past individual experiences with cooperative research informed our roles and responsibilities and how we organized and communicated. This article is a reflection of how COVID GAP has refined our collaborative process in response to an evolving comprehension of our own lessons learned including understanding the nature of cooperative research and that it takes time and effort. From our experience, we provide specific recommendations for group collaborations emphasizing the need to identify a team coordinator to organize efforts, the establishment of a safe and equitable working environment for all involved, and the explicit attention to building a network for research partnerships.
Disruption through Concientización introduces a framework for Latinx family engagement, VERDAD: (1) Valor, (2) Engagement, (3) Respeto, (4) Disruption, (5) Action, and (6) Deber. The VERDAD lens provides a transformative way for examining and understanding the experiences of trauma and healing for Latinx families in schools. Disruption through Concientización draws on the previous work of pedagogy of the puppet, which exposed the deficit ways Latino and refugee families have been positioned in marginalized ways regarding their engagement in schools. Drawing on ethnographic methods, the authors unpack the disconnect these families experience in schools by reflecting on 1) Concientización and the colonization of families in schools, 2) humanizing and validating trauma, and 3) by being spirit warriors Saliendo de la invisibilidad. Their experiences reveal the VERDAD that occurs in the lives of Latinx families in schools.
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