Maternity, science and pandemic: an urgent call for action!

Abstract

ABSTRACT Historically, women have been subjected to the rules of patriarchal society and the unfair assignments of a sexual division of labor. A female transition from the household to join the workforce did not come with equal division of labor at home, which has been occurring recently on a small scale. In the field of Science, women have always had to face the prejudices and the misogyny of this patriarchal society. Therefore, female academic success is disproportionate to their male counterparts. Having children also plays a significant role in the declining numbers of women in advanced scientific careers and it is clear that the inequalities in the conditions of broad development of the academic career result in an overlap of weaknesses imposed specially on the career of the mother-scientists. Many scientists have had to change their routine and working relationships in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and are adapting to this new reality of remote work. Meanwhile, mother-scientists, especially with young children, are facing challenging situations. In recent years, women have been reaching collective actions to address and resolve injustices in the field of science and we cannot allow this pandemic to pull us into irreparable setbacks. Here we bring to light problems that mother-scientists are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic and call attention to the losses that will occur if we do not take an urgent action.