1. Will COVID-19 result in a giant step backwards for women in academic science?
- Author
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Nazia Peer, Larissa Shamseer, Ainsley Moore, Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, Andrea C. Tricco, Sharon E. Straus, and Eva Grunfeld
- Subjects
Adult ,Biomedical Research ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,Epidemiology ,Efficiency ,03 medical and health sciences ,Reward system ,Sex Factors ,0302 clinical medicine ,Humans ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Sociology ,Early career ,Pandemics ,Productivity ,Publishing ,Intersectionality ,Academic career ,SARS-CoV-2 ,business.industry ,COVID-19 ,Gender studies ,Career Mobility ,Female ,Women in science ,business ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
COVID-19 has disproportionately placed women in academic science on the frontlines of domestic and clinical care compared to men. As a result, women in science are publishing less and potentially acquiring less funding during COVID-19 than compared to before. This widens the pre-existing gap between men and women in prevailing, publication-based measures of productivity used to determine academic career progression. Early career women and those with intersectional identities associated with greater inequities, are facing unique challenges during this time. We argue that women will fall further behind unless academic reward systems adjust how and what they evaluate. We propose several strategies that academic institutions, funders, journals, and men in academic science can take.
- Published
- 2021
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