Academic Productivity Differences by Gender and Child Age in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine Faculty During the COVID 19 Pandemic.
Background: Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, most faculty in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) began working from home, including many who were simultaneously caring for children. The objective was to assess associations of gender and parental status with self reported academic productivity before (i.e. mid January to mid March 2020) and during the pandemic (i.e. mid March to mid May 2020) Materials and Methods: STEMM faculty in the United States (N 284, 67.6% women, 57.0% with children younger than the age of 18 years living at home) completed a survey about the number of hours worked and the frequency of academic productivity activities. Results: There was no significant difference in the hours worked per week by gender (men, M [standard deviation, SD] 45.8 [16.7] women 43.1 [16.3] Faculty with 0 5 year old children reported significantly fewer work hours (33.7 [13.9] compared to all other groups (No children 49.2 [14.9] 6 11 years old 48.3 [13.9] and 12 17 years old 49.5 [13.9] p 0.0001) Women's self reported first/corresponding author's and coauthor's article submissions decreased significantly between the two time periods; men's productivity metrics did not change. Faculty with 0 5 year old children completed significantly fewer peer review assignments, attended fewer funding panel meetings, and submitted fewer first authors' articles during the pandemic compared to the previous period. Those with children aged 6 years or older at home or without children at home reported significant increases or stable productivity. Conclusions: Overall, significant disparities were observed in academic productivity by gender and child age during the pandemic and if confirmed by further research, should be considered by academic institutions and funding agencies when making decisions regarding funding and hiring as well as promotion and tenure.
Journal of women's health