Time to fight the pandemic setbacks for caregiver academics

Abstract

To the Editor -From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we expected that people, especially women, caring for children, elderly, people with disabilities or other family members, would be the most impacted in academia; data proved this to be the case [1][2][3] . This issue is central to the long-standing problem of low female representation in science, since women across all employment sectors persist as the main caregivers.With attempts to return to normal lives following more than a year of remote working and home schooling in many countries, a question arises: how many institutions have implemented effective action to mitigate the pandemic's negative impacts on the academic careers of caregivers? These include reducing teaching or administrative workloads; extending deadlines for caregivers when necessary (for grants, scholarships or career advancement assessments); including specific criteria to fairly assess caregivers' productivity when compared to their peers; creating specific grants to support caregivers in their academic progress; and enforcing policies to increase diversity in academia, especially towards women of colour.Worldwide, the most common measure to offset the pandemic's negative effects on academics was the extension of deadlines, especially for career advancement and tenure track assessments (for example, stopping the tenure clock). While positive, these actions were not specifically tailored to caregivers -those who were hit the hardest. A study published before the pandemic demonstrated that the adoption of neutral tenure clock-stopping policies substantially reduced female tenure rates and substantially increased male tenure rates 4 . Hence, an in-depth assessment with a gender perspective is needed of the consequences of such policies specific to the pandemic. In the specific case of caregivers, actions taken so far are scarce.

A Decade of GigaScience: Women in Science: Past, Present, and Future

“…The disproportionate impact of the pandemic has shown quite clearly, that despite other mechanisms that universities and institutions have put in place promote fairness and enhance women's engagement in STEM, there is a clear need to set up mechanisms to mitigate the consequences of loss of professional work time due to their greater burden work in the home during the pandemic—but this area must become standard given that, even in “normal” times, these responsibilities disproportionately impact women. While some things have been done to reduce the effect of family and home care, many of these are limited and, more, unsuccessful, for continuing to support women in the workplace ( 10 ).…”

Parentalidade e carreira científica: o impacto não é o mesmo para todos

“…Gradually, face-to-face activities are being resumed in Brazilian education and research institutions, and effective actions to mitigate the negative impacts of the pandemic are fundamental, especially in the careers of women who are mothers. 28 Recently, the PiS has highlighted the importance of this and suggested some actions, 29 which, along with others, are exemplified in Figure 1 .…”

“…Gradativamente, as atividades presenciais vêm sendo retomadas nas instituições de ensino e pesquisa brasileiras, e ações efetivas para mitigar os impactos negativos da pandemia, especialmente na carreira de mulheres mães, são fundamentais. 28 Recentemente, o PiS destacou essa importância e sugeriu algumas ações, 29 as quais, em conjunto com outras, estão exemplificadas na Figura 1.…”

Advancing Women in Chemistry: A Step Toward Gender Parity

“…2 At the same time, COVID-19 emphasized scientific inequality, as women faced a break in their careers due to extra household and child care duties with the lockdown. 3,4 In the past 4 decades, female enrollment in higher education has increased about twice as quickly as male enrollment. 5 Despite these advancements, it has been noted that women at higher academic levels are declining and lagging behind men, particularly at the research level and in administrative and decision-making positions.…”

“…The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic clearly showed the importance of the phrase “unity in diversity” in chemical sciences, as scientists from all over the world contributed their best to fight against the coronavirus by solving molecular details of viral organization, to understand its infectivity and transmissibility and develop diagnostics test, kits, drugs, and vaccines . At the same time, COVID-19 emphasized scientific inequality, as women faced a break in their careers due to extra household and child care duties with the lockdown. , …”