Parenting during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020: academia, labour and care work

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic instigated fundamental challenges and changes to parents' working lives in Britain. This viewpoint article reflects upon the experience of balancing childrearing responsibilities with academic work across the Spring and Summer of 2020. It positions the removal of formal and informal childcare networks within the history of feminist demands around childcare and sets it against the background of the recent history of women and reproduction within Higher Education in Britain. Drawing upon feminist literature, personal experience, academic parents' testimony and emerging studies of the gendered effects of the crisis, the article explores some of the critical challenges that balancing childcare and academic work presented and offers some preliminary reflections on the experience of the concurrent 'double shift' the lockdown engendered.

COVID-19 restrictions: experiences of immigrant parents in Toronto

“…Responses to the pandemic including lockdowns, cancelled services, and other public health measures have magnified many of these stressors. Emerging research has identified the emotional and practical demands of working at home (and at times longer than usual hours), childrearing for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, restriction of access to public spaces, and balancing the demands of paid employment with the increased responsibilities from having children at home [3] . Studies from countries such as Singapore show that the extreme financial and health insecurity, along with physical and social isolation because of COVID-19, can increase tensions in the home environment [4] .…”

“…Recent evidence also reveals the gendered effects of challenges and stressors associated with the pandemic, which are disproportionately experienced by mothers [5] , [6] . During the first month of the lockdown, for example, women in the United Kingdom spent on average two-thirds more time on childcare responsibilities than men; in addition, mothers were interrupted much more often than fathers, greatly affecting their ability to work from home during the pandemic [3] . The requirement to stay at home affected mothers' independence, skill acquisition, and feeling of purpose often associated with paid employment outside the home, resulting in isolation, suffocation, boredom, and feelings of oppression and imprisonment [3] .…”

“…Emerging research also indicates that the pandemic has exacerbated not only gendered inequalities but also existing social, financial, cultural, and racial inequalities [3] , [7] . Racialized (i.e., visible minorities or people of color) and under-resourced immigrant families are most likely to face the heaviest burden from COVID-19 [8] , [7] .…”

Fast Professors, Research Funding, and the Figured Worlds of Mid-Career Ontario Academics

“…Although working from home may have slowed down research publications and progress, in many cases it simply added more backstage "things to do" to a busy academic life as children were kept at home for many months and expected to maintain some kind of learning timetable (Crook, 2020).…”

Roditeljstvo u vrijeme pandemije COVID-19

“…Zatvorenost odgojno-obrazovnih institucija odrazila se i na obrazovanje djece. Potreba održavanja kontinuiteta obrazovanja moguće je potaknula i veću angažiranost roditelja (Crook, 2020) što potvrđuju i nalazi ovog istraživanja. Roditelji su usmjereni na aktivnosti i igre za spoznajni razvoj djece te bazične aktivnosti, dok se zapostavlja kreativnost.…”