Proceedings of The 7th International Conference on Advanced Research in Social Sciences and Humanities
Year: 2023
DOI:
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Research Productivity and Women in The Turkish Academia: The Impact of The Pandemic
Dr. Aslı Ermiş-Mert
ABSTRACT:
The pandemic had consequences for many different groups in various ways and at different levels, some of which are expected to last long term. One of the groups who were disproportionately affected by COVID-19 were women, especially considering that many were already struggling to balance household-/family-related responsibilities and employment. This study specifically focuses on the experiences of women in academia in Turkey, and how their work in terms of research productivity was influenced during this period based on increased paid and unpaid work, and pressure concerning research performance. Data was collected from 400 randomly selected women academics in Turkey, of whom 328 completed the implemented questionnaires fully. Using descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients, and binary logistic regressions, findings demonstrate that while increase in the unpaid workload related to household chores had no statistically significant impact on women academics’ research productivity, increased unpaid care work (including but not limited to childcare) had a decreasing impact. Extended levels of pressure regarding research performance yielded the strongest diminishing effect on women academics’ research performance. Results highlight the significance of introducing efficient support mechanisms for unpaid care work as well as adjusting institutional expectations concerning research performance of faculty for achieving improved scientific quality as well as the well-being of academics, not only in relation to the effects of the pandemic but as extended institutional policies.
keywords: gender, academia, pandemic, research performance, quantitative methods