Intersectional Experiences of Academic Women of Color Mothering During the Dual Pandemics

Overview: This presentation will explore challenges women of color who are mothers working in academia experienced during the dual pandemics: COVID-19 and racial injustice. The presenters will provide strategies they have used and discuss ways other women of color in academia who are mothers could empower themselves to support their wellbeing.Proposal text: Even before the COVID-19 pandemic and the United States’ reckoning with ongoing racial injustice, research studies have consistently shown that women, and particularly mothers within academia, endure challenges in their workplaces. For mothers within the academy, the inequities and vulnerabilities have been even greater (Ferrara, 2020; Fulweiler et al., 2021; Hermann & Neale-McFall, 2020). For instance, accounts have emerged of academic mothers in the field of social work continuing to be stretched to balance research, teaching, and service (Parrish et al., 2021; Mogro-Wilson et al., 2022). Further, among women of color who are mothers working in academia, the demand is magnified when we are expected to take on additional teaching, service, or educational responsibilities related to antiracist practice and social justice. Consequently, women of color who are mothers working in academia face unique challenges that have been exacerbated–locally and globally–because of the dual pandemics. There has been an increased burden of child care when daycare facilities close and decreased productivity (writing, grants), and data suggests that it could take years to ameliorate these career disruptions (500 Women Scientists, 2022). Additionally, women of color who are mothers in academia have the increased burden and worry related to the racial injustice happening in the United States all of which negatively impact their career trajectory.

This panel intentionally centers the experiences of women of color who are mothers working in academia during the two ongoing pandemics: COVID-19 and racial injustice in the United States. The panelists will address the following central question: What are the experiences of women of color who are mothers working in academia during the dual pandemics? Guided by ecological theory and intersectionality, the panelists engage in a discussion of their collective experiences as women of color who are mothers working in academia. They draw upon their diverse experiences to focus on the burdens and benefits they endured and continue to endure. Lastly, they provide strategies they’ve utilized to manage childcare and their productivity.

This presentation will highlight the local and global impact women of color who are mothers working in academia experience because of COVID-19 and racial injustice. By providing diverse examples, we hope to encourage conversations about, advance understanding of, and build increased attunement to the needs of women of color who are mothers in academia within their institutions. As we continue to have critical conversations within academia, it is imperative that we include in these conversations the rights and welfare of mothers. We want participants to share their stories and experiences of mothering during these challenging times and leave with knowledge of strategies they can share with their institutions so they can thrive despite the unprecedented impact the dual pandemics have had on their lives as mothers, as women of color, and as academics.