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.

This paper analyzes the contrasting media portrayals of female political participation in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Through a thorough discourse analysis of Saudi, British, and American newspaper articles surrounding the 2015 municipal elections, we scrutinize how the portrayal of women as a subject group has shifted from one that requires the constant approval of guardians in the public sphere to one that makes its own decisions and actively participates in politics. We analyze what types of discourses and frames have supported this drastic shift in official Saudi media discourses. We then contrast these findings with the portrayal of Saudi female political participation in Western countries that claim to uphold human rights and gender equality, in contrast to Saudi Arabia. Finally, we contrast our findings with the perceptions of 50 female Saudis regarding female agency and political participation in Saudi Arabia.

No abstract

Soil classification is a complicated and difficult process; the level of complexity depends on the extent of the information needed. The objective of this paper is to produce a digital soil map for the Kingdom of Bahrain. The Kingdom does not have such a map at the present time. Borehole data of more than 300 sites is collected form the Ministry of Work. Old maps are obtained from the Surveying Land Registration Bureau (SLRB). Multispectral LandSat images from the years 1973 to 1976 are downloaded from online sources. All paper format maps are scanned, geo-referenced and converted to GIS format. LandSat images are classified using supervised image classification; pixel value refers to a specific soil type. Borehole data is treated as a point feature and soil related information is entered as attribute data. A hybrid model that performs classification based on weighted average mean for the raster and vector data is developed. The model consists of calibration and execution module. The model is tested and a digital soil map for the Kingdom of Bahrain is produced. The map encompasses the historical Awal land and the newly reclaimed areas. Analysis revealed that there are solid waste dumping activities in the sea and lowland areas.

No abstract