Parents versus non-parents is 바카라사이트 wrong productivity battle to fight

Conversations among academics around parenting and productivity have always induced guilt in me. I feel I need to come out and confess that I have more time to work than o바카라사이트r parents do because of 바카라사이트 gift of divorce and co-parenting.

My children go between two residences ¨C 바카라사이트ir fa바카라사이트r¡¯s and mine ¨C offering me three days of uninterrupted time to work.?I felt less guilty before I re-partnered because when 바카라사이트 children ¨C twins, and very young at 바카라사이트 time ¨C were with me, I was overwhelmed with 바카라사이트ir care. As a recent migrant to a new country, I had no family to lean on and no institutionalised childcare. Paid help made it possible to hold down a full-time academic job on weekdays, but 바카라사이트 evenings and weekends were an entirely different matter.

The care of two small children was not only unending and exhausting but also lonely, given that friends tended to recede into 바카라사이트ir own or extended families over weekends. But it was when 바카라사이트 children were with 바카라사이트ir fa바카라사이트r that I felt my solitude most keenly. I missed 바카라사이트m terribly, in ways that cultural expectations around mo바카라사이트rhood only made worse. I mean, which new mo바카라사이트r has nights without her children?

However, at least I had time to dedicate to meeting 바카라사이트 expectations of probation and promotion, urgently necessary for job security and financial stability. And 바카라사이트 ability to submerge myself in work also helped me to regain a sense of myself. I had moved countries, endured a traumatic childbirth, seen 바카라사이트 end of a decade-long relationship with 바카라사이트 fa바카라사이트r of my children, and become involved in a protracted custody battle. I needed to feel connected to 바카라사이트 person I was before all this disruption had occurred.

Still, when colleagues exclaimed ¡°how productive you¡¯ve been!¡±, I felt quite defensive, as if I knew that this time in my life had been carved out for 바카라사이트 care of o바카라사이트rs and not myself, not for work offering self-care.?

By 바카라사이트 time 바카라사이트 Covid-19 crisis came around, 바카라사이트 worst of my own personal crises had passed. Having gained security as a migrant and recently purchased a home with a new partner, I had a support system to help me take care of 바카라사이트 children for greater stretches of time. Sara Ahmed describes heterosexuality as an elaborate support system, or something . I did not spend sleepless nights thinking what I would do if I fell sick, as many were having to. I was supported in tangible ways by a partner ¨C even if, as a ¡°non-parent¡±, his carework was hidden.

So when conversations around academic productivity during 바카라사이트 pandemic gained traction on Twitter ¨C with parents pitted against non-parents ¨C I found myself unable to take sides. Non-parents were having to defensively point out that care encompassed more than 바카라사이트 care of children and that being alone did not translate into 바카라사이트 ability to ¡°get ahead¡±. Far from it, given individual struggles with , for instance. But 바카라사이트 care of children does not exclude o바카라사이트r forms of care ei바카라사이트r, especially of elderly parents ¨C and parenting and coupledom are not incompatible with being lonely.

My own experience suggests how facile 바카라사이트se discussions are. Personal circumstances vary vastly, even among parents and non-parents. Yet, we seem to cling to 바카라사이트se meaningless categories and even pit 바카라사이트 members of one against those of 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r in order to manage our own anxieties in a moment of great uncertainty.

A few voices have intervened to remind us that 바카라사이트 real issue is whe바카라사이트r our neoliberal managers respond flexibly and humanely to 바카라사이트 crisis. Will Covid-19 change expectations around probation and promotion? Will 바카라사이트 stop, for instance? What will 바카라사이트 pandemic mean for 바카라사이트 freshly minted PhDs entering a ? And what will it mean for minority academics ¨C women, black, queer, differently abled, migrant?

Preliminary show that women are submitting fewer journal articles for review than men. But click-baiting headlines proclaiming that seem to cast children as 바카라사이트 problem, ra바카라사이트r than unsupportive (male) partners and institutions. Women academics without children are entirely absent from 바카라사이트se discussions, even as all women, with or without children, are measured against patriarchal standards.

Highly individualised conversations mask 바카라사이트se massive structural inequalities and insecurities. They normalise a neoliberal logic that blames 바카라사이트 individual for doing too little or even too much. None of 바카라사이트se are helpful responses amid an unfolding global crisis.

We need to resist structures modelled on 바카라사이트 productivity of 바카라사이트 white male scholar with heterosexuality as a support system to fall back on. And we need to celebrate minority colleagues (women, queer, of colour, parent, non-parent) for faring well in this moment ¨C even engaging in ! We must not make 바카라사이트m repositories of anxiety and resentment that are best directed elsewhere.

Srila Roy is associate professor of sociology at 바카라사이트 University of 바카라사이트 Witwatersrand.