Who Is Okay? The Harm of One-Dimensional Appraisals of Women Scholars During COVID-19 & Beyond

Abstract

In this essay, I detail how homogenizing appraisals of diverse faculty women during COVID-19 are harmful to all, including myself. I highlight how academic demands to be “talking heads” and not full human beings, though not new, is especially harmful in the current era. As a Black woman faculty dealing with the double pandemic of COVID-19 and anti-Black racism, the one-dimensional appraisals of women faculty exclude me: I am not a mother dealing with sexist overburden in household responsibilities that interfere with my work. Instead, I am dealing with isolation and loneliness, which I sublimate through work productivity. Resulting in shame, I also realize that universities could operate differently, recognizing women scholars for their diversity in identities, backgrounds, responsibilities, work styles, and personalities during the pandemic and beyond. Given that work productivity is not synonymous with well-being, I hope my colleagues know that, in this moment, I am not okay.