As a side note, we encountered a paper this morning documenting how the pandemic has disproportionately affected women in research. There is a now documented 20% drop in women appearing as first author or corresponding author on research papers. 

While many men have seen this pandemic as an amazing time to get ahead with less travel and fewer face-to-face meetings to eat their time, women have been held back by the need to take care of the family as daycare for both children and elders has been shut down and as home schooling became the only schooling available. This disparity in expectations of men and women in the majority of households will have long ranging impacts on the imbalances between genders. 

Agele Gaey-Ageron, study lead, points out: These authorship positions are used for decision-making, because they reflect the degree to which researchers contributed to the production of science. The attainment of these key positions, alongside with the total number of articles published, are essential for moving up the academic ladder.

Put another way, the unequal expectations placed on men and women in the home are going to lead to women having a harder time advancing their careers and fewer women reaching senior positions. When you hear people say “women don’t work hard enough to produce”, ask if they have the same opportunities to spend their evenings doing research for fun. If they don’t, maybe tell them how amazing they are for pulling off all the research they do get done at work, where they often face higher committee assignments, and at home where they often have more chores. The world does not have equal expectations, and now it is documented.

More Information

University of Geneva press release

“Female authorship of covid-19 research in manuscripts submitted to 11 biomedical journals: cross sectional study,” Angèle Gayet-Ageron, Khaoula Ben Messaoud, Mark Richards, and Sara Schroter, 2021 October 6, BMJ