Academic mothers with disabilities: Navigating academia and parenthood during COVID‐19

Wagner, Kathryn; Pennell, Summer Melody; Eilert, Meike; Lim, Stacey

doi:10.1111/gwao.12751

Cited by 29 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Respondents with disabilities reported significantly higher Resources scores before COVID-19 compared to those without disabilities ( Table 6 ). This is consistent with past literature showing researchers with disabilities have lower grant success rates and experience ongoing barriers when conducting academic research [ 48 , 52 – 54 ]. This disparity was no longer present following the onset of COVID-19, due to Resources scores of researchers without disabilities increasing ( Table 6 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on perceived publication pressure among academic researchers in Canada

2022

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The phenomenon of “publish-or-perish” in academia, spurred on by limited funding and academic positions, has led to increased competition and pressure on academics to publish. Publication pressure has been linked with multiple negative outcomes, including increased academic misconduct and researcher burnout. COVID-19 has disrupted research worldwide, leading to lost research time and increased anxiety amongst researchers. The objective of this study was to examine how COVID-19 has impacted perceived publication pressure amongst academic researchers in Canada. We used the revised Publication Pressure Questionnaire, in addition to Likert-type questions to discern respondents’ beliefs and concerns about the impact of COVID-19 on academic publishing. We found that publication pressure increased across academic researchers in Canada following the pandemic, with respondents reporting increased stress, increased pessimism, and decreased access to support related to publishing. Doctoral students reported the highest levels of stress and pessimism, while principal investigators had the most access to publication support. There were no significant differences in publication pressure reported between different research disciplines. Women and non-binary or genderfluid respondents reported higher stress and pessimism than men. We also identified differences in perceived publication pressure based on respondents’ publication frequency and other demographic factors, including disability and citizenship status. Overall, we document a snapshot of perceived publication pressure in Canada across researchers of different academic career stages and disciplines. This information can be used to guide the creation of researcher supports, as well as identify groups of researchers who may benefit from targeted resources.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on perceived publication pressure among academic researchers in Canada

2022

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“…Recent research by Wagner et al. ( 2021 ) supports the use of using the lived experience of marginalized academics to gain insight into privilege and disparity within universities. We urge universities and faculty associations to think of ways to collect and value stories about individual impacts of the pandemic on researchers, and to incorporate an understanding of these real‐world impacts into their policies; this might mean that recovery plans are dynamic and fluid, and capable of adapting to the changing circumstances of the professoriate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…COVID-19, health, research, social, tenured and tenure-track faculty, university, well-being It is well established that structure inequities in universities exist (Eslen-Ziya & Yildirim, 2022;Guy & Arthur, 2020;Roos, 2008;Sobande & Renee Wells, 2021). The extent that the pandemic has exacerbated these structural inequities remains unknown, though research has begun to emerge exploring impacts on certain university communities (Górska et al, 2021;Kasymova et al, 2021;Wagner et al, 2021). While the initial goal of the present mixed-method inquiry aimed to inform the organizational post-pandemic response strategy of universities, emerging evidence indicates that the pandemic is demonstrating disproportionately negative effects on female and racialized faculty and their ability to conduct research (Frederickson, 2020;Lutter & Schröder, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are we failing female and racialized academics? A Canadian national survey examining the impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on tenure and tenure‐track faculty

Davis

Butterfield

et al. 2022

Gender Work & Organization

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The novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic caused the abrupt curtailment of on‐campus research activities that amplified impacts experienced by female and racialized faculty. In this mixed‐method study, we systematically and strategically unpack the impact of the shift of academic work environments to remote settings on tenured and tenure‐track faculty in Canada. Our quantitative analysis demonstrated that female and racialized faculty experienced higher levels of stress, social isolation and lower well‐being. Fewer women faculty felt support for health and wellness. Our qualitative data highlighted substantial gender inequities reported by female faculty such as increased caregiving burden that affected their research productivity. The most pronounced impacts were felt among pre‐tenured female faculty. The present study urges university administration to take further action to support female and racialized faculty through substantial organizational change and reform. Given the disproportionate toll that female and racialized faculty experienced, we suggest a novel approach that include three dimensions of change: (1) establishing quantitative metrics to assess and evaluate pandemic‐induced impact on research productivity, health and well‐being, (2) coordinating collaborative responses with faculty unions across the nation to mitigate systemic inequities, and (3) strategically implementing a storytelling approach to amplify the experiences of marginalized populations such as women or racialized faculty and include those experiences as part of recommendations for change.

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“…Specifically, those who reported a physical or mental disability were significantly more likely to experience all seven types of work disruptions examined in the study. There has been limited systematic research on the experiences of scientists with at least one disability [ 22 ]. However, our results highlight the importance of understanding their experiences.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on marginalized and minoritized early-career academic scientists

et al. 2022

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Early research on the impact of COVID-19 on academic scientists suggests that disruptions to research, teaching, and daily work life are not experienced equally. However, this work has overwhelmingly focused on experiences of women and parents, with limited attention to the disproportionate impact on academic work by race, disability status, sexual identity, first-generation status, and academic career stage. Using a stratified random survey sample of early-career academics in four science disciplines (N = 3,277), we investigated socio-demographic and career stage differences in the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic along seven work outcomes: changes in four work areas (research progress, workload, concern about career advancement, support from mentors) and work disruptions due to three COVID-19 related life challenges (physical health, mental health, and caretaking). Our analyses examined patterns across career stages as well as separately for doctoral students and for postdocs/assistant professors. Overall, our results indicate that scientists from marginalized (i.e., devalued) and minoritized (i.e., underrepresented) groups across early career stages reported more negative work outcomes as a result of COVID-19. However, there were notable patterns of differences depending on the socio-demographic identities examined. Those with a physical or mental disability were negatively impacted on all seven work outcomes. Women, primary caregivers, underrepresented racial minorities, sexual minorities, and first-generation scholars reported more negative experiences across several outcomes such as increased disruptions due to physical health symptoms and additional caretaking compared to more privileged counterparts. Doctoral students reported more work disruptions from life challenges than other early-career scholars, especially those related to health problems, while assistant professors reported more negative changes in areas such as decreased research progress and increased workload. These findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately harmed work outcomes for minoritized and marginalized early-career scholars. Institutional interventions are required to address these inequalities in an effort to retain diverse cohorts in academic science.

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Academic mothers with disabilities: Navigating academia and parenthood during COVID‐19

Cited by 29 publications

References 26 publications

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on perceived publication pressure among academic researchers in Canada

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on perceived publication pressure among academic researchers in Canada

Are we failing female and racialized academics? A Canadian national survey examining the impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on tenure and tenure‐track faculty

Disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on marginalized and minoritized early-career academic scientists

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