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Another article on the impacts of the pandemic on academic mothers. https://bit.ly/2ZgjW6T Recognition is good, action is better. I asked a 11K member group of 'Academic Mamas' how their institutions could support them. Below I summarize their replies. Note: many don't require $
Acknowledge trends in reduced and gendered productivity. Think about finding a way to acknowledge and ideally address caregiving work for mothers specifically. "we are getting screwed (and really fucking angry).”
Reduce required meetings. Record all essential meetings, excuse absences from meetings, and give parents’ schedules preference when scheduling meetings.
Offer exemptions from service and in general reduce any non-essential service roles so these responsibilities don’t accrue to others. Pause on everything else that is not mission critical — service, curriculum tasks, etc.
Do not require synchronous or hyflex teaching. Prioritize additional TA support for our courses. Make course evaluations optional or reduce their role in the overall faculty evaluation process this year.
Offer student assistant time to do just about anything--grade, enter grades, edit lecture subtitles, help with research. Dedicated tech support to help with uploading lectures to youtube etc
Support our research even after covid. Give reduced teaching loads and research money 'so that we can catch up a little'
Revise guidelines for T&P to account for decreased productivity, instead of just extending the tenure clock.
Prioritize sabbatical applications from academic mothers.
@ScienceMagazine let's see a story on how institutions can help us. @WarnerCollege
