Women Educators’ Experiences During COVID-19: On the Front Lines examines the gendered experiences, challenges, and rapid changes faced by women in higher education during COVID-19. Scholars of communication, gender studies, and higher education will find this book of particular interest.

Women Educators’ Experiences During COVID-19: On the Front Lines examines the gendered experiences, challenges, and rapid changes faced by women in higher education during COVID-19. The book’s chapters cover lived experiences ranging from graduate students navigating the pandemic to those grappling with balancing motherhood and the academy. Through these diverse perspectives, this edited collection explores the impact of the diversity and nuances of the feminine identity on navigating higher education during an international health crisis. Ultimately, contributors provide recommendations for best practices and suggestions for change for administrators, faculty, and policymakers to dismantle the academy as a male-dominated institution. Scholars of communication, gender studies, and higher education will find this book of particular interest.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Victoria McDermott, Amy R. May, Teresa Heinz Housel, Erica Knotts, Stevie M. Munz, Leandra H. Hernández

Part 1: Women’s Experiences

Chapter 1: The Never-ending Pandemic(s): A Narrative Analysis on Black Women Educators Dealing with COVID, Sexism, and Racism

Aisha Powell, Symone Campbell, and Ashley Leveille

Chapter 2: The Radical Specificity of COVID Autoethnographic MotherWriting

Patty Sotirin

Chapter 3: “I Want to be the Supporter, Not the Supported”: The Impact of Unreciprocated Caregiving on Women Faculty During COVID-19

Rachel L. Reilly

Chapter 4: Balancing Academic Mothers and Academic Scholars: Gender Imbalances in Service Loads in Academic Institutions

Chin-Chung Chao and Ming Xie

Chapter 5: The Soul of Working Women: Holistic Identity Challenges for Women Graduate Students During COVID-19

Lakelyn E. Taylor and Elaine Schnabel

Chapter 6: Stories of Effective and Ineffective Support for Women Faculty through Lockdowns, Wildfires, and Budget Cuts

Erica Knotts, Alena Ruggerio, and Isabella McCord

Chapter 7: :”I Don’t Have Ducks, They’re Not in a Line. I Have a Squirrels at a Rave”: Higher Education Administrators’ Meaning-Making of COVID-19

Victoria McDermott, and Olivia Truban

Part 2: COVID-19 Initiatives

Chapter 8: Deconstructing COVID-19 Pandemic Institutional Initiatives: Where Do Women Academics Fit?

Rita Daniels

Chapter 9: ”Asking Us to Do More With Less”: Academic Mother’s Muted Experiences During the “Shecession”

Megan Lambertz-Berndt and Anuraj Dhillon

Chapter 10: Pandemic Impact Statements: Challenges, Opportunities, and Considerations for Gender Equity in Academe

Dawn Culpepper and Sarah Kilmer

Part 3: Recommendations/Conclusion

Conclusion

Victoria McDermott, Amy R. May, Teresa Heinz Housel, Erica Knotts, Stevie M. Munz, Leandra H. Hernández

About the Editors

About the Contributors