Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jun:134:160-166.
doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.03.004. Epub 2021 Mar 8.

Will COVID-19 result in a giant step backwards for women in academic science?

Larissa Shamseer  1 , Ivy Bourgeault  2 , Eva Grunfeld  3 , Ainsley Moore  4 , Nazia Peer  5 , Sharon E Straus  6 , Andrea C Tricco  7
Affiliations

Will COVID-19 result in a giant step backwards for women in academic science?

Larissa Shamseer et al. J Clin Epidemiol. 2021 Jun.

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.

Keywords: Academic reward; COVID-19; Early career; Gender; Intersectionality; Productivity; Women.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Interest None.

References

    1. WHO Director-General. WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2021 Feb 15]. p. WHO Director General Speeches. Available from: https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-genera... 19—11-march- 2020.
    1. How COVID-19 impacts women and girls [Internet]. UN Women. 2020 [cited 2021 Feb 20]. Available from: https://interactive.unwomen.org/multimedia/explainer/covid19/en/index.ht....
    1. Crenshaw K. Mapping the margins: intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Rev. 1991;43(6):1241.
    1. Tricco AC, Bourgeault I, Moore A, Grunfeld E, Peer N, Straus SE. Advancing gender equity in medicine. Can Med Assoc J. 2021;193(7):E244–E250. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sugimoto CR, Ahn Y-Y, Smith E, Macaluso B, Larivière V. Factors affecting sex-related reporting in medical research: a cross-disciplinary bibliometric analysis. Lancet. 2019;393(10171):550–559. - PubMed