I just discovered (thanks @hunrachel) about the growing gap in publication submissions in the past month since the covid-19 started (links below). Moral of the story is: we need to be proactive aebout addressing systemic gender biases in academia to keep women in the pipeline. 1/

It's disconcerting that we're not having more open conversations about these numbers & what we can do to acknowledge this productivity gap may be biased. How can we ensure that women (& primary caretakers) are not unfairly evaluated after this pandemic ends? 2/

It's not clear what the root cause of this discrepancy is, according to these opinion articles. It's generally believed that women take on more domestic responsibility and emotional labor/care, but who's to say that these are the primary cause? How can we even quantify this? 3/

Perhaps prioritizing mental health and caring for each other is the right thing we need to do right now. I sincerely hope that these individuals would not be penalized for practicing healthy mental & emotional hygiene in a time of chronic stress and uncertainty. 4/

In any case, I wanted to post this thread & the following articles to provide some food for thought in this pandemic season, as many are struggling b/w striking a balance between "being productive" and "staying sane." Stay woke, stay safe, & most importantly, stay at home! fin/

Early journal submission data suggest COVID-19 is tanking women's research productivity http://disq.us/t/3o0cda1 

The pandemic and the female academic https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01135-9

Women academics seem to be submitting fewer papers during coronavirus. ‘Never seen anything like it,’ says one editor. https://www.thelily.com/women-academics-seem-to-be-submitting-fewer-papers-during-coronavirus-never-seen-anything-like-it-says-one-editor/

And not be too myopic, there have been some other great articles that support that this is not a unique problem in science and the academy, and affects women generally. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/03/feminism-womens-rights-coronavirus-covid19/608302/