COVID-19 and the gender gap in research productivity: understanding the effect of having primary responsibility for the care of children

Figures & data

Table 1. The effect of changed working arrangements on the perceived ability to finish or submit research papers.

	% of respondents
	Decreased a lot	Decreased a little	Stayed about the same	Increased a little	Increased a lot
Men	25.3	23.1	27.0	18.3	6.4
Women	33.3	24.7	22.4	13.5	6.1
All	30.2	24.1	24.2	15.3	6.2

Notes: N = 1,083 men; N = 1,734 women; N = 2,817 total.

Table 2. Logit regressions: perceived ability to finish or submit research papers during the pandemic, marginal effects.

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)
Variables	Y = DEC (=1 if perceived ability decreased a little or a lot)			Y = DEClot (=1 if perceived ability decreased a lot)
	All	Men	Women	All	Men	Women
Woman	0.093***	-	-	0.060***	-	-
	(0.022)			(0.019)
MainCarer	0.112***	0.202**	0.104***	0.118***	0.150***	0.118***
	(0.034)	(0.080)	(0.038)	(0.026)	(0.054)	(0.033)
NumChildren	0.019	0.017	0.017	0.011	−0.001	0.018
	(0.013)	(0.019)	(0.017)	(0.011)	(0.015)	(0.016)
LGBTIQ	−0.006	−0.099	0.060	−0.011	−0.017	−0.010
	(0.042)	(0.075)	(0.050)	(0.036)	(0.054)	(0.047)
Racial Minority	−0.062**	−0.150***	−0.002	−0.026	−0.037	−0.020
	(0.030)	(0.049)	(0.038)	(0.025)	(0.039)	(0.033)
Age ≤ 30	−0.036	0.059	−0.080	−0.101*	−0.067	−0.112
	(0.057)	(0.103)	(0.067)	(0.058)	(0.090)	(0.076)
Age31-40	0.011	0.017	0.005	−0.010	−0.037	0.003
	(0.028)	(0.047)	(0.036)	(0.024)	(0.038)	(0.033)
Age41-50	−0.032	−0.031	−0.032	−0.007	0.014	−0.017
	(0.027)	(0.045)	(0.035)	(0.023)	(0.035)	(0.031)
Age_missing	−0.109	−0.037	−0.181	−0.040	0.120	−0.313
	(0.130)	(0.193)	(0.177)	(0.111)	(0.111)	(0.214)
STEM	−0.104***	−0.143***	−0.068**	−0.092***	−0.077***	−0.099***
	(0.022)	(0.036)	(0.027)	(0.018)	(0.027)	(0.025)
Teach_Inc	0.177***	0.105**	0.232***	0.119***	0.067*	0.157***
	(0.030)	(0.043)	(0.040)	(0.027)	(0.035)	(0.038)
Teach_na	−0.062*	−0.150***	0.005	−0.037	−0.040	−0.025
	(0.034)	(0.055)	(0.043)	(0.031)	(0.045)	(0.043)
Admin_Inc	0.166***	0.091**	0.207***	0.137***	0.087***	0.166***
	(0.022)	(0.035)	(0.027)	(0.019)	(0.027)	(0.026)
Admin_na	0.147**	0.189*	0.125*	0.166***	0.164**	0.167***
	(0.058)	(0.105)	(0.069)	(0.046)	(0.070)	(0.061)
WFH	−0.003	0.002	−0.008	0.005	0.009	0.003
	(0.007)	(0.009)	(0.009)	(0.006)	(0.009)	(0.008)
Clarity	−0.075***	−0.063*	−0.080***	−0.094***	−0.054*	−0.116***
	(0.022)	(0.036)	(0.028)	(0.019)	(0.028)	(0.025)
Space	−0.033	−0.048	−0.023	−0.054**	−0.088**	−0.029
	(0.028)	(0.046)	(0.035)	(0.023)	(0.035)	(0.031)
Equipment	−0.029	−0.006	−0.037	−0.002	0.039	−0.029
	(0.028)	(0.045)	(0.035)	(0.023)	(0.035)	(0.031)
Support	−0.037	−0.037	−0.044	−0.041**	−0.043	−0.042
	(0.023)	(0.039)	(0.029)	(0.020)	(0.031)	(0.027)
Colleagues	−0.114***	−0.163**	−0.092**	−0.045	−0.106*	−0.020
	(0.039)	(0.068)	(0.047)	(0.031)	(0.060)	(0.039)
Disruption	0.243***	0.270***	0.231***	0.114***	0.117***	0.116***
	(0.023)	(0.037)	(0.028)	(0.019)	(0.028)	(0.025)
Australia	0.023	0.048	0.006	0.023	0.023	0.025
	(0.022)	(0.036)	(0.029)	(0.019)	(0.027)	(0.026)
flag_wfh	0.048	0.065	−0.025	−0.085	−0.191	−0.064
	(0.184)	(0.242)	(0.242)	(0.135)	(0.182)	(0.204)
flag_clarity	0.003	−0.000	0.047	0.086	0.073	0.086
	(0.174)	(0.242)	(0.250)	(0.137)	(0.182)	(0.191)
flag_support	0.033	−0.031	0.067	0.034	−0.031	0.074
	(0.067)	(0.115)	(0.081)	(0.065)	(0.096)	(0.086)
flag_disrupt	−0.405***	−0.699***	−0.308***	−0.164**	−0.189	−0.150*
	(0.095)	(0.258)	(0.102)	(0.068)	(0.120)	(0.081)
Pseudo R^2(%)	14.6%	13.8%	15.7%	12.3%	9.9%	13.7%
Observations	2,817	1,083	1,734	2,817	1,083	1,734

Notes:

1. Standard errors are in parentheses and are corrected for heteroskedasticity.

2. Significance given by: *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1.

Table 3. Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition of the gender gap in perceived publication ability.

		(1)		(2)
		Y = DEC		Y = DEClot
		Coef.		Coef.
(1)	Men	0.484		0.253
(2)	Women	0.580		0.333
(3)	Gender Gap [(1)-(2)]	−0.096*** (0.019)		−0.080*** (0.016)
(4)	Due to differences in characteristics (explained component)	−0.029* (0.015)		−0.030*** (0.011)
(5)	Due to differences in coefficients (unexplained component)	−0.068*** (0.018)		−0.049*** (0.012)
(6)	Share of gender gap explained (%) [(4)/(3)%]	30%		38%
Explained component: details
		Coef.	% of Gender Gap Explained by:	Coef.	% of Gender Gap Explained by:
(7)	Gender differences in ‘MainCarer’ responsibilities	−0.023*** (0.008)	24%	−0.032*** (0.011)	40%
(8)	Gender differences in all other variables as a group	−0.006 (0.007)	7%	0.002 (0.006)	−2%

Notes:

1. The logit regressions control for all variables listed in Table 2.

2. The percentages may not sum due to rounding errors.

3. Standard errors in parentheses.

Significance given by: *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1

Table A1. Variable definition and descriptive statistics.

		(1)	(2)	(3)
Variable label	Variable description	All	Men	Women
Pubs	Perceived ability to finish or submit research papers (1 = decreased a lot; 5 = increased a lot)	2.4 (1.2)	2.6 (1.2)	2.3 (1.2)
DEC	=1 if perceived ability to finish or submit research papers decreased a little or a lot; =0 otherwise.	54.0%	48.4%	58.0%
DEClot	=1 if perceived ability to finish or submit research papers decreased a lot; =0 if otherwise.	30.0%	25.3%	33.3%
Woman	=1 if indicated they identify as a woman; =0 if as a man.	61.6%	-	-
MainCarer	=1 if has dependent children and that they are always or usually the main carer or they are a sole parent; =0 otherwise.	15.6%	5.5%	21.9%
NumChildren	= number of dependent children	0.74 (1.0)	0.76 (1.0)	0.73 (1.0)
LGBTIQ	=1 if identifies as LGBTIQ; = 0 if otherwise.	6.8%	6.6%	6.9%
Racial Minority	=1 if identifies as being Indigenous, Black, Asian or other racial minority; = 0 otherwise	14.7%	15.1%	14.5%
Age ≤ 30	=1 if aged less than or equal to 30 years	4.0%	2.9%	4.7%
Age31-40	=1 if aged 31–40 years	22.8%	20.0%	24.7%
Age41-50	=1 if is aged 41–50 years	30.1%	27.0%	32.0%
Age51+	=1 if is age 51 years or more	42.2%	49.0%	37.9%
Age_miss	=1 if age is missing	0.7%	1.1%	0.5%
STEM	=1 if works within a STEM discipline	47.3%	50.2%	45.5%
Teach_Inc	=1 if time spent on teaching activities (including preparation) increased a little or a lot; =0 otherwise	56.4%	58.6%	55.5%
Teach_na	=1 if deemed the teaching and service question not applicable	27.8%	21.8%	31.5%
Admin_Inc	=1 if time spent on administration and service increased a little or a lot; =0 otherwise	52.8%	48.5%	55.5%
Admin_na	=1 if respondent indicated that the administration and service question was not applicable	3.9%	3.8%	4.0%
WFH	Extent to which respondent worked from home during COVID-19 (=0 if never; = 10 if always). (14 observations with missing information were assigned the mean value)	9.4 (1.7)	9.2 (1.9)	9.4 (1.6)
Clarity	=1 if agreed (somewhat or strongly) with statement that ‘It is clear what is expected of me in my job’; = 0 otherwise	58.4%	56.5%	59.4%
Space	=1 if agreed (somewhat or strongly) with statement that ‘I have a separate space at home where I can do university work’; = 0 otherwise	68.9%	67.9%	69.6%
Equipment	=1 if agreed (somewhat or strongly) with statement that ‘I have good equipment at home’; = 0 otherwise	66.8%	67.7%	66.3%
Support	=1 if agreed (somewhat or strongly) with statement that ‘The university provided adequate support to enable me to work at home’; = 0 otherwise	44.0%	40.0%	45.9%
Colleagues	=1 if indicated that connections with colleagues increased a little or a lot as a result of changed working arrangements; =0 otherwise	8.3%	6.6%	9.4%
Disruption	=1 if reported that extent to which working time was disrupted by people increased a little or a lot; =0 otherwise	41.8%	40.0%	43.0%
Australia	=1 if located in Australia; =0 if located in Canada	59.2%	55.4%	61.6%
Flag_wfh	=1 if information on ‘WFH’ observed	99.8%	99.8%	99.8%
Flag_carity	=1 if information ‘Clarity’ observed	99.5%	99.5%	99.5%
Flag_support	=1 if information on ‘Support’ observed	97.7%	98.1%	97.4%
Flag_disrupt	=1 if information on ‘Disruption’ observed	98.6%	99.0%	98.4%
Number of Obs		2,817	1,083	1,734

Notes:

1. The means for the binary variables are shown as percentages.

2. The standard deviation for continuous variables is shown in parentheses.