Women are writing less during Lockdown than men. Why would that be, then?

The stereotyped image of the 'working mother'

Female academics are writing less during Lockdown than men. Why would that be, then? To enlighten myself, I read an article today – here's the headline:

Women academics seem to be submitting fewer papers during coronavirus. ‘Never seen anything like it,’ says one editor. Men are submitting up to 50 percent more than they usually would

I wonder if readers of this blog will be able to guess my response? Yes? No? I'm unable to restrain myself anyway, so here goes…To sum up, and at the risk of sounding like the Daily Mash, this is more fabulous Motherload nonsense from the No Shit Sherlock School of Research, University of Life. Go on then, I know you know I want to. Let me spell out why. 

Particular restatements of the problem, as opposed to doing anything, anything at all, about the solution (um... men need to do more housework and let go of some of their entrenched power; women need to stop trying to do everything, less is definitely more) include:

1. 'Women — who *inevitably* shoulder a greater share of family responsibilities — seem to be submitting fewer papers'.

*signals fallacy. Nothing 'inevitable' about it.

2. 'If men and women are at home, men *“find a way”* to do more academic work.'

*signals "euphemism".

3. 'Some of the responsibilities are *determined by biology*: *If a woman *chooses* to *breast-feed*, that takes up hours every day. Women also *face a physical recovery from giving birth*.'

******** signals expletives. Just read Simone de Beauvoir.

4. 'Williams *splits child care with her husband, working from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., and watching her 4-year-old son through 6 p.m*., when they all come back together for the evening. All her work time goes to daily tasks: replying to emails, facilitating departmental logistics. She “has not touched” either of her two pending book projects.'

*signals fatuous non-solution. No writer can get anything done in a day split this way.

5. '“A day in the office is less exhausting than a day with a 7-year-old”'. The clue's in the sentence.

6. 'Other women had the same concern, but *wouldn’t speak on the record* because they feared it might jeopardize their chance'.

*signals Motherload, a mental condition in which women split themselves in two to try to have it all by doing it all, while lying about it, and selling out other women (controversial, yet salient).

7. 'Lev has started to *keep track of her days*, writing down how many hours she spent with her daughter, and how many hours she was able to work. If anyone ever says she wasn’t “productive” during coronavirus, *she’ll have the records to prove them wrong*.'

*signals paranoid opposition between 'work' and 'motherhood' as though motherhood did not involve work. This false opposition between 'work' and 'life' is also one of the (many) wedges driven into female identity which leads to internalising misogyny, and a lifetime of self-doubt and self-justification.

8. Real solution? Look at the ridiculous rate of publication – most of the articles submitted won't be worth the paper they were printed on. No one needs or can read this number of publications – the publications are about getting tenure, not original research.

Original research, developing a big idea *rather like raising a child to adulthood* takes YEARS AND YEARS of effort, getting it wrong, losing your way, coming up for air, a bit of serendipity, and finally a cristalline drop of insight. Not a plethora of wind bagging.

That's the problem – it's not the rate of productivity, it's the POINTLESSNESS of the productivity.

Woman, thinking.

P.S. As I write this, mon cher mari is making dinner at the end of his working day. Because he is a lovely man, and likes food, and his children. Later we will eat together. Bicker pointlessly, and collapse. It took a good few years, but I'm happy with my Motherload.