Teaching and working from home: gender differentials in the impact of covid-19 on university academics in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has strongly impacted the higher education sector, with both students and faculty facing changes in the mode of teaching and learning and working environment. It is expected that women will bear the brunt of the impact of increased caregiving responsibilities following the closure of schools and childcare facilities given the gendered norms on the allocation of household activities. While there is emerging evidence of these gendered gaps in productivity among academics, the literature is either predominantly focused on developed countries or makes use of datasets based on publication records that cannot be used to explore in-depth the channels by which the gender gaps arise. As such, this paper examines the gendered impact of the pandemic on the working practices among university academics in Sri Lanka using a survey of teaching and research practices during the pandemic period. Information on living arrangements and time-use are also collected to further explore channels through which the differential impacts might have arisen. The responses of 241 academics from five state universities in Sri Lanka are analysed to identify gender differentials using two-sample t- and chi-square tests as well as a multiple regression model intended to further explore gender differentials in time-use before and after the pandemic, The results show that there are indeed gender differentials in the impact on carrying out research and the presence of young children is part of driving this differential. As women bear a disproportionate share of childcare, the results suggest that adverse gender impacts are likely to materialize further in years to come.