Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Women and Early Career Archaeologists

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching impacts in all segments of life worldwide. While a variety of surveys have assessed the impacts of the pandemic in other fields, few studies have focused on understanding the short- and long-term impacts of the pandemic for archaeology. To assess these trends, we asked survey respondents (n = 570) if they experienced job loss and to rate the percentage of change in their economic situation, workload, teaching or research activities, and personal responsibilities. Results show alarming trends, with nearly half of those who experienced job loss being under the age of 35 and women and early career archaeologists suffering major economic losses. Impacts to workload, teaching activities, and research activities were also felt across these groups. Substantial increases in personal responsibilities (childcare, eldercare, caring for sick family members) were also identified, especially for women with children under 18 years of age. While structural inequalities have already been identified across different sectors of archaeology, the results of this survey suggest the most vulnerable populations are those most heavily affected. We recommend a variety of strategies for employers, professional organizations, funding agencies, and publishers to consider in mitigating the consequences of COVID-19, especially for women and early career scholars.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on early career dementia researchers: A global online survey

“…No differences related to ECDRs’ gender (men vs. women) were found in the present sample, and previous studies on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to gender are inconclusive [ 4 , 21 , 22 ]. Evidence exists that women in dementia research get published less, receive less funding, and transition into advanced academic positions at disproportionally lower rates than men [ 20 ] and gender disparities for ECDRs require more attention prospectively.…”

A Precarious Future: Reflections from a Survey of Early Career Researchers in Archaeology

“…As women tend to have more teaching, marking, administration, and pastoral obligations (Stringer et al, 2018), the extra labour involved in the switch to online teaching and supervision has also disproportionately affected women academics (Viglione, 2020). In archaeology, recent surveys found the pandemic has worsened confidence in the future of the discipline (Mate & Ulm, 2021), and has significantly affected women, minorities, and ECRs, leaving these groups with a heavier workload, economically worse-off, and pessimistic about their future employment prospects (Hoggarth et al, 2021).…”

“…Much research has been devoted in recent years to the problems faced by ECRs in broader academia, such as recent surveys worldwide (Woolston, 2017(Woolston, , 2019 and in Europe (Swider-Cios et al, 2021), or among UK researchers (Wellcome, 2020), German scientists (Abbott, 2019), North American field researchers (Clancy et al, 2014), and Australian scientists (Christian et al, 2021). Surveys of archaeology and related disciplines and studies of workplace statistics have also addressed the plight of ECRs among North American archaeologists (Altschul & Patterson, 2010;Hoggarth et al, 2021), Australian archaeologists (Mate & Ulm, 2021), European anthropologists (Fotta et al, 2020), and UK historians (McDonald, 2017;Atkinson et al, 2018). These surveys and employment statistics are often not specific to archaeology or are gathered for individual countries; the latter obscure broader patterns and do not reflect the transnational character of many academic careers in archaeology.…”

Exploring the Nature of Authority Over, and Ownership of Data Generated by Archaeological Lidar Projects in Latin America

“…In recent discussions of data accessibility and data management, studies have focused on best practices, cautionary tales, and conceptual theses about “big data” as they relate to remote sensing, radiocarbon determinations, and other enormous databases that archaeologists harness in their research (Bevan, 2015 ; Cohen et al, 2020 ; Fernandez-Diaz et al, 2018 ; Gattiglia, 2015 ; McCoy, 2017 ; VanValkenburgh & Dufton, 2020 ). Other papers focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion in archaeological research, especially as these relate to gender and intersectionality (eg., Goldstein et al, 2018 ; Hoggarth et al, 2021 ). One method of assessing diversity in archaeological research uses the names of article authors or grant recipients to assign gender identity, an approach which is useful, but which has been critiqued for its lack of intersectionality or use in multi-issue studies (Heath-Stout, 2020 ).…”