APRU on Nikkei: COVID has made a bad situation worse for women academics
February 11, 2022

Pandemic has shone a glaring light on disparities old and new

01

Written by Joanna Regulska and Sabrina Lin
Original post on Nikkei

COVID-19 has added new challenges for women.   © AP

Joanna Regulska is co-chair of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities’ Women in Leadership (APRU APWiL) Program and vice-provost and dean of global affairs, professor of gender, sexuality and women’s studies, University of California, Davis. Sabrina Lin is co-chair, APRU APWiL, and senior adviser to president of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

COVID-19 has brought with it the blurring of our personal and professional lives. In the field of higher education, where career advancement depends so much on hitting numbers, including publication numbers, citation numbers, grants earned, students advised, women have been hit the hardest.

At the onset of the pandemic, the virus resulted in women’s decreased research productivity. Initial evidence suggests that while women academics working from home are submitting fewer manuscripts and external funding submissions, their male counterparts are submitting more.

Despite assuming fewer leadership positions in general, the pandemic has also given rise to the glass cliff effect, or the overrepresentation of women advancing to leadership positions during periods of crisis when the risk of failure is highest.

Indeed, COVID-19 has added new challenges for women in academia. But to peg the pandemic as a vacuum out of which these implications arose would be narrow-minded. Social inequities in academia have existed for decades. The field itself emerged at a time when, typically, male academics received the support of their stay-at-home spouses.

Once women did enter the field, they were often met with gender-based obstacles to achieving tenure, being granted promotions, or simply earning the same respect afforded to their male counterparts.

The pandemic has shone a glaring light on disparities that date back longer than we wish to admit. We can begin to make amends by first acknowledging the full spectrum of complexities that women face, ones that are inextricably linked to other systemic barriers.

Women are the backbone of the care economy, what might be better termed as the “actual” economy, and the reality is that most women do not have the luxury of separating work from home.

The care economy can be defined as any care — child care, social or domestic services — provided in formal and informal settings. Women around the world, particularly in Japan, were already doing most of the world’s unpaid care work prior to the pandemic, and COVID-19 has only amplified this burden.

A report by the International Labor Organization identified unpaid care work as the biggest impediment to women’s formal employment, affecting 21.7% of women compared to 1.7% of men. Such obligations often result in women devoting less time to their career advancement. In some cases, causing them to postpone promotions or leave the field of academia altogether.

One step in the right direction could be incorporating care work into teaching evaluations, which tend to disfavor women. As it stands, many academic institutions put too much weight into evaluating professors based on their research output. It is time for us to ditch the publish or perish pretense that has become so prevalent in academia.

This method is simply not viable today and especially disadvantages women who are contributing to multiple areas of university life in addition to research.

While women make up the majority of undergraduate and master’s degree holders, their representation in research is only 28% globally. Such underrepresentation varies by country and discipline, and while in some cases gender parity in research is almost achieved, in many other instances there is a long path ahead to meeting such a benchmark.

How can we better support women in academia? It comes down to dialogue.

During the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) virtual annual presidents’ meeting, international experts in higher education came together to discuss the impacts of COVID-19 on women academics. The conclusion we came to was simple: there is no such thing as a best fit solution.

Challenges women face in academia are not always plain to see, often materializing in subtle ways, like when women are not considered to serve on certain committees, when their contributions during meetings are appropriated, or when they are silenced by louder voices.

Rather than assuming you know what is best for your women faculty, ask them. What do you need? An extra year in your tenure clock? Additional material support? Childcare and mental health support resources? New, nondiscriminatory criteria that make it possible to appreciate the contributions of all faculty members? Commitment to hiring dual career partners?

Similarly, not all academic institutions are uniform, with different universities boasting different institutional cultures and access to financial and personal resources. While some institutions maintain an equal footing in research, teaching and service, others are more focused on one cause. We must remain committed to gender, racial and social equity while recognizing the nuanced constraints of each individual institution.

We have presented a snippet of the full picture of women academics’ experiences, which differ vastly across racial, ethnic, cultural and other contexts.

As exemplified during the APRU senior international leaders’ meeting, which brought together leaders from 18 different countries, it is increasingly important to leverage international networks like APRU in order to adopt global solutions to issues of inequity. And to bear in mind that equity is different from equality.

Related Articles
APRU SWM Forum 2023: Advancing UN SDGs and ESG for a Sustainable Future
more
IESGA's 6th Global Conference Forges Pathways to Empowering Sustainability
more
Indigenous Knowledge Has the Power to Help Address the Climate Crisis
more
APWiL Mentoring Program keeps growing, 4th Cohort takes off
more
APRU Indigenous Knowledges Network meets in Melbourne
more
SDG4GC - How a growth mindset can open a world of opportunity
more
APRU Open Dialogues tackles Gender-Based Violence Prevention in Learning Environments
more
APWiL Mentoring Program 3rd Cohort concludes, having promoted teaching and learning in both directions
more
Too often invisible or unattainable?
more
Routes Towards a Sustainable Society: Forum with Springer Nature Editor-in-Chief
more
Towards a Sustainable Biochar Market in Korea
more
APRU Steering Committee 2023-2024
more
AI for Social Good Summit Gathered Academics and Gov’t Representatives to Showcase Joint Research Outcomes Enhancing Wellbeing in Southeast Asia
more
Public Agencies from Thailand Participated in AI for Social Good Summit
more
2023 Global ESG Forum in Singapore Underscores Biodiversity and ESG Reporting as Key Drivers to Sustainable Development
more
CUHK Hosts APRU Undergraduate Leaders’ Program on Sustainable Cities Development
more
The University of Hong Kong hosts APRU Presidents’ Meeting on Sustainable Future Solutions
more
Keio University News: Keio University Launches 2023 Mentoring Program to Promote Female Faculty Member Empowerment and Leadership
more
APWiL Third Cohort & Professor Freshwater as new APWiL Presidential Champion
more
Country Workshop Aims to Turn AI Research Results into Actionable Public Policy
more
Global Climate Change Simulation Offers USC Students New Perspectives on Worldwide Fight
more
UO Students Co-host APRU Global Climate Change Simulation
more
World BOSAI Forum 2023 facilitates forward-looking visits to Japanese APRU members
more
UP News: UP participates in APWiL Mentoring Program 2022
more
APRU on Bloomberg: The next stage: APRU-Google-UN ESCAP AI for Social Good Project now working directly with government agencies
more
APWiL launches the 3rd Cohort of the Mentoring Program with Orientation
more
Tec News: APRU universities meet in San Cristóbal de las Casas to hold dialog on indigenous knowledge in the Pacific Rim
more
UMelbourne News: An international focus on Indigenous knowledge
more
APWiL Mentoring Program 2nd Cohort wraps up with forward-looking Graduation Ceremony
more
The APRU Climate Change Simulation- Preparing Students to Lobby Leaders for Vital Actions
more
APWiL Confirms its New Co-Chair
more
APRU MetaGame Conference 2022 Successfully Concludes in Hong Kong With Academics Pushing New Ideas on the Application of Esports in Education
more
Students from Tongji School of Medicine Enrolled in the Top 10 Entries of the APRU Global Health Virtual Case Competition 2022
more
APRU Brings Universities into the World of Esports with MetaGame Conference 2022
more
CUHK Biologists Unveil the Genetic Histories of Centipedes and Millipedes to Contribute to Studies of Biodiversity and Ecology
more
APRU Steering Committee 2022-2023
more
APRU ends pandemic hiatus with first physical meeting at NTU Singapore and highlights urgency to collaborate through international university networks
more
APRU Readies for Looming Book Launch with Springer on Safety and Resilience of Higher Educational Institutions
more
APRU on Bloomberg: APRU Readies for Looming Book Launch with Springer on Safety and Resilience of Higher Educational Institutions
more
APRU on The Fiji Times: FNU Students Join Global Climate Change Simulation
more
Tec News: Tec Professors, in a Global Mentoring Project for Women
more
UBC News: 2 UBC Esports undergrads win industry research scholarships
more
Women Leaders Share Stories from the Field on International Women's Day
more
APEC Healthy Women Healthy Economy Prize Accepting Applications 2022
more
APRU on UNESCO News: New report “Moving minds: Opportunities and challenges for virtual student mobility in a post-pandemic world”
more
APRU on SCMP: Covid-19 wrecks exchange programme plans, as record low number of Hong Kong university students went overseas in last academic year
more
UCLA News: Building the foundation — and networks — needed to diversify university leadership
more
UC Davis News: APRU, UC Davis and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Launch Second Cohort of Asia-Pacific Women in Leadership Mentoring Program
more
APRU on HKMB: Digital games exercise minds
more
APRU on SCMP: Virtual foreign exchange allowing students to ‘study abroad’ without leaving home will outlast Covid-19
more
UH News: Esports fellowship creates global opportunities for UH students
more
First APWiL Mentoring Program Seminar facilitates fruitful exchange
more
APRU Metagame Conference 2021 Returns at Cyberport’s Annual Digital Entertainment Leadership Forum
more
Times Higher Education Awards Asia 2021: winners announced
more
APRU Steering Committee 2021-22
more
The 16TH APRU Multi-Hazards Symposium 2021: Transdisciplinary Collaboration for Disaster Resilience
more
APRU Celebrates Successful Completion of Its APWiL Mentoring Program’s First Cohort
more
2nd Cohort of the APWIL Mentoring Program Triples Participation
more
APRU on The Jakarta Post: A Mounting Battle that Starts at Home
more
New APRU Member – Tongji University
more
New APRU member - Simon Fraser University
more
APRU on UWN: Long way to go for parity for women in HE leadership
more
APRU on World Economic Forum: Universities can be 'living labs' for sustainability
more
APRU holds Fireside Chat with Women University Leaders
more
Asia Pacific Women in Leadership Program welcomes new APWiL Presidential Champion
more
Asia Summit: ‘penalty systems’ and ‘male allies’ address gender gap
more
Cyberport Brings Together Hong Kong and Pacific Rim Youth for Esports Exchange
more
YESPORTS ESPORTS APPRENTICESHIP Recipient Announced
more
Winners of the 2021 APEC Healthy Women Research Prize
more
APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Policy Dialogue
more
APRU webinar flags alarming impact of COVID-19 on Women in Higher Education
more
APRU on JUMPSTART: How Esports Fellowships Can Pave the Way for A Stable, Ethical, Diverse Industry
more
Good-bye 2020, Welcome 2021!
more
APRU Launches the First Global Inter-University Esports Conference and Fellowship Program
more
APRU Quarantunes Competition Connects and Uplifts Student Communities through Music, Boosting Spirits during Ongoing Pandemic
more
APWiL Launches Mentoring Program Pilot Program
more
Civic Resilience and the COVID-19 Crisis (Part 2 of 2)
more
TEC News: Song of Tec students wins 1st place among universities worldwide
more
Quarantunes Student Music Competition
more
Collaboration, technology and global health policy
more
2020 Healthy Women/Healthy Economies Research Prize Application Open Through May 2020
more
Asia-Pacific Mayors Academy concludes first cohort
more
New Member Spotlight: Shanghai Jiao Tong University
more
New Member Spotlight: Universidad San Francisco de Quito
more
Upgrade needed for universities’ workplace wellness programs, new APRU survey shows
more
UNU-IAS and Partners Launch Asia-Pacific Mayors Academy
more
Cities and Refugees – 2019 Global Student Design Ideas Competition
more
Sustainable Urban Development Mayors Fellowship
more
APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Research Prize 2019
more
APRU Inaugural Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Design Field School
more
APRU at the UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction
more
APRU-IRIDeS Multi-Hazards Summer School 2014 Report is out now
more
2nd Multi-Hazards Summer School 2014
more
9th Multi-Hazards Symposium 2013
more
Partnering for a less hazardous planet: Interview with Professor John Rundle
more
1
95