On mothering and being mothered: A personal reflection on women's productivity during COVID‐19

Abstract

This is a personal reflection, as a female academic during COVID‐19, on how women's academic productivity seems primarily to be discussed in relation to a different kind of productivity — motherhood. A recent procedure in a maternity hospital evoked feelings and associations of mothering and being mothered, and how these associations hover over relationships regardless of whether wombs are productive or not. My hope in writing this piece is that every woman's fear and anxiety may be productively contained (regardless of how she is seen from the outside or momentarily construed from within) during this time of extraordinary turmoil.

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

“…Smaller‐scale interview‐based studies, like those by Minello et al(2020) and Aldossari and Chaudhry (2020), show how women academics' work during the pandemic was disproportionately constrained by nonacademic responsibilities distributed unequally in households (such as those that relate to care, education, and housework). More personal or autoethnographic reflections offer extraordinarily rich accounts of the actual embodied experiences of working amidst a pandemic and having to manage intense and draining clashes between one's roles as a scholar and one's (gendered) roles at home and in communities (Abdellatif & Gatto, 2020; Boncori, 2020; Clancy, 2020; Clavijo, 2020; Couch et al, 2020; Guy & Arthur, 2020; Hall, 2020; Kelly & Senior, 2020; Miller, 2020; Motta, 2020; Plotnikof et al, 2020; Vohra & Taneja, 2020). These reflections offer compelling insight into the micropolitics of gender inequalities in pandemic academic labor.…”

“…There is an implicit assumption that the main obstacle to producing at one's “normal” rhythm during a pandemic is the––gendered––obligation to take care of dependents and do other forms of reproductive labor. As Clancy (2020, p. 857) notes, “women's academic productivity seems primarily to be discussed in relation to a different kind of productivity — motherhood.” In other words, we assume that people (and especially women) cannot do as much academic work during the pandemic because they also have to do other work––particularly, caring, or housework. But as Corbera et al (2020, p. 193) ask “[e]ven if the household conditions were more “favourable”, could someone be expected to conduct business‐as‐usual in the wake of a global pandemic and maintain the same pace of productivity and engagement with our job duties?” The authors think not, and I agree.…”

Chaos ruined the children’s sleep, diet and behaviour: Gendered discourses on family life in pandemic times

“…In our study, we unpack what parental qualities are seen as essential for dealing with this crisis and how they draw on discourses of gender. The article is a contribution to the growing literature on the dynamics of gender and family life during COVID‐19 (Clancy, 2020; Güney‐Frahm, 2020) and sheds light on 21 st ‐century constructions of gendered, middle‐class parenthood in neoliberal times. More specifically, we ask: How are the demands that parents face regarding child‐rearing and domestic life in pandemic times described?…”

“…We argue that Iceland provides an interesting setting for this study as it has a well‐entrenched welfare system in terms of childcare, which has made it possible to combine parenting with paid employment. It has also embraced neoliberal ideas which see child‐rearing as an individual responsibility and enterprise (Auðardóttir & Magnúsdóttir, forthcoming; Clancy, 2020; Güney‐Frahm, 2020; McRobbie, 2013). Before we present our study, we discuss the discursive context around parenting in Iceland.…”

Writing multi‐vocal intersectionality in times of crisis

“…Rather, we wish to note that during this extraordinary time, associations and experiences of mothering should not be solely attached to the productivity of a woman's womb (Clancy, 2020), but seen as touching upon many women, regardless of their status as mothers or not.…”