Higher education institutions in South Africa should look into remedying the negative consequences that the Covid-19 lockdown had on specifically women academics in the country.
This is one of the recommendations made in a recent study on the impact lockdown has had on women academics. The study was conducted by two Stellenbosch University (SU) researchers, Dr Cyrill Walter and Prof Jonathan Jansen, as well as Dr Samantha Kriger from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and Prof Linda Ronnie from the University of Cape Town (UCT).
Women academics had to balance work and home responsibilities during the Covid-19 lockdown. This is according to a recent study that focused on the burn-out that South African women academics faced and the changed concept of home during the Covid-19 pandemic. PHOTO: Hannah Theron
The study, published earlier this year, found that working from home during the Covid-19 lockdown resulted in burn-out for South African women academics.
“[Women] were responsible for so many more things than males in the home,” Kriger told MatieMedia. “The cooking, the cleaning, the children’s wellbeing, the children’s homework, their mothers and fathers that needed medication…[they] were the caregiver.”
Demands were not considered
The institutions where these women academics worked did not consider the additional demands they were faced with, according to Kriger.
“There was a huge amount of stress,” stated Kriger, adding that it became really difficult for women to manage all their responsibilities and do their job.
The burn-out faced by women academics due to the COVID-19 lockdown affected all women, not just academics, according to Dr Cyrill Walters, the head researcher of a recent study about South African women academics having to change the meaning of ‘home’ during Covid-19 lockdown.
The most recent study is one of nine studies by these researchers, stated Walter. It is based on a survey that, according to the study, was sent to more than 2 000 women academics following lockdown. The survey indicated that, at the time of the study, women were struggling and many could not finish a research project, said Walter, who was the head researcher in the study.
Despite all the challenges women academics faced during Covid-19, the institutional policies and expectations remained the same for them as before lockdown, commented Walter.
‘Our nervous systems are still trying to recover’
“I think that there is a lack of representation surrounding the mental health of academics as a whole, especially within the context of Covid,” said Prof Deborah Blaine, an associate professor at Stellenbosch University and expert on women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
“All of a sudden, your family work, parent work, partner work, house work and work merged into one chaotic mess, a train smash,” explained Blaine via email correspondence with MatieMedia.
It is important to assess the damage caused by the “train wreck”, said Blaine, adding that it was also important to improve the system.
During the first six months of the pandemic, there was a need for the home to be a safe space and it couldn’t be one, said Carlien Serfontein, a registered counselor, via email correspondence with MatieMedia.
“This role-confusion amalgamated into women that went into complete survivor mode from which our nervous systems are still trying to recover,” said Serfontein.
A recent study recommends that higher education institutions in South Africa must look into remedying the consequences that the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown had on women academics. PHOTO: Hannah Theron