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‘All the single ladies’ as the ideal academic during times of COVID‐19?

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  • Ea Høg Utoft

Abstract

Much of what has hitherto been written about women’s lived experiences of the coronavirus pandemic takes their status as mothers and the spouses of men for granted. Skewed care demands on women researchers working from home may translate into individual career disadvantage and cumulative, large‐scale gender inequalities in the future, which is undeniably a serious issue. However, the narrative that single, childfree women must currently, by contrast, be unconcernedly enjoying a surge of productivity needs to be nuanced. Therefore, with this article, I autoethnographically discuss how living alone in the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic provides its own set of circumstances and is hardly problem‐free, which affects how one can deal with issues of academic productivity and work–life balance. Also, I take issue with the premise that our productivity is the golden standard against which we and our worth should be measured while we are living through a global crisis.

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  • Ea Høg Utoft, 2020. "‘All the single ladies’ as the ideal academic during times of COVID‐19?," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(5), pages 778-787, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:27:y:2020:i:5:p:778-787
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12478
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Evanthia Kalpazidou Schmidt & Marina Cacace, 2019. "Setting up a dynamic framework to activate gender equality structural transformation in research organizations," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(1), pages 159-159.
    2. Ilaria Boncori, 2020. "The Never‐ending Shift: A feminist reflection on living and organizing academic lives during the coronavirus pandemic," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(5), pages 677-682, September.
    3. Mathias Wullum Nielsen, 2017. "Reasons for Leaving the Academy: a Case Study on the ‘Opt Out’ Phenomenon among Younger Female Researchers," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 134-155, March.
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    1. Dide van Eck & Eline Jammaers, 2021. "Chronicles of conflicting care in confinement: Documenting the work experiences of seven ‘patient zeros’," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 735-748, March.
    2. Helena Liu, 2022. "Workplace Injury and the Failing Academic Body: A Testimony of Pain," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(2), pages 339-352, August.
    3. Maria do Mar Pereira, 2021. "Researching gender inequalities in academic labor during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Avoiding common problems and asking different questions," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(S2), pages 498-509, July.
    4. Aleem, Majid & Sufyan, Muhammad & Ameer, Irfan & Mustak, Mekhail, 2023. "Remote work and the COVID-19 pandemic: An artificial intelligence-based topic modeling and a future agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    5. Sharon Ee Ling Quah & Alexandra Ridgway, 2022. "The woman writer's body: Multiplicity, neoliberalism, and feminist resistance," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 44-57, January.
    6. Heather Griffiths, 2021. "Invisible people: A story of fertility treatment and loss during the pandemic," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(S2), pages 397-404, July.
    7. Cyrill Walters & Linda Ronnie & Marieta du Plessis & Jonathan Jansen, 2023. "Academics in Lockdown: A Gendered Perspective on Self-Esteem in Academia during the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-14, March.
    8. Katharine A.M. Wright & Toni Haastrup & Roberta Guerrina, 2021. "Equalities in freefall? Ontological insecurity and the long‐term impact of COVID‐19 in the academy," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(S1), pages 163-167, January.
    9. Sorana-Alexandra Constantinescu & Maria-Henriete Pozsar, 2022. "Was This Supposed to Be on the Test? Academic Leadership, Gender and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Denmark, Hungary, Romania, and United Kingdom," Publications, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-13, April.
    10. Thereza Raquel Sales de Aguiar & Shamima Haque & Keith A. Bender, 2022. "Athena SWAN gender equality plans and the gendered impact of COVID‐19," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 591-608, March.

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