Inequalities exposed at the university by the COVID-19 crisis: the impact of gender on working conditions, time use and academic performance at UCM

The survey explored aspects of reconciling work and family life, co-responsibility, the psychological impact of the pandemic, the time use in terms of domestic and care work, working time (uses of academic time), and academic performance and production during lockdown periods among the UCM’s teaching and research staff (PDI).
As discussed in greater detail later in this report, the survey’s results conclusively show that women PDIs had a significantly worse time during lockdown than their male colleagues, in general. This includes a greater negative psychological impact on women, the need for greater efforts on their part, and the presence of more difficulties in combining academic work with care and family life in lockdown. As such, it may be concluded that they were most severely affected by the COVID-19 crisis. They have had worse working conditions, have dedicated more time to housework and care work, have significantly increased the hours they dedicated to academic work – dedicating more time to teaching and student care, and less time to research, writing and publishing their work – compared to their male peers. This indicates a sexual division of labour in the academic world, which ultimately has differentiated
effects on academic production.