Researching gender inequalities in academic labor during the COVID-19 pandemic: Avoiding common problems and asking different questions

As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, a growing body of international literature is analyzing the effects of the pandemic on academic labor and, specifically, on gender inequalities in academia. In that literature, much attention has been devoted to comparing the unequal impacts of COVID-19 on the research activities of women and men, with studies demonstrating that women's research productivity has been disproportionately disrupted, in ways that are likely to have detrimental effects in the short- and long-term. In this paper, I discuss that emerging literature on gender inequalities in pandemic academic productivity. I reflect on the questions asked, the issues centered and the assumptions made within this literature, devoting particular attention to how authors conceptualize academic labor and productivity, on one hand, and gender, on the other. I show that this literature makes major contributions to exposing old and new gender inequalities in academia, but argue that it also risks reproducing some problematic assumptions about gender and about academic work. Discussing those assumptions and their effects, I identify some important questions for us to consider as we expand this literature and deepen our understanding of the complex gendered effects of COVID-19 on academic labor.

Automated summary

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately disrupted women's research productivity in academia, leading to detrimental effects in the short- and long-term. Existing literature highlights the unequal impacts of COVID-19 on research activities between men and women. This literature sheds light on both exposing old and new gender inequalities in academia while also raising awareness about potentially problematic assumptions about gender and academic work.