Tonya Brito on How the Pandemic Amplified Inequality in the Academy

Tonya Brito and coauthors Catherine Albiston, Cathy Hu and Daniela Campos Ugaz recently published “'The Hamster Wheel Is on Fire:' How the Pandemic Amplified Inequality in the Academy” in Gender, Work & Organization. The authors examine whether pandemic changes in academic work demands varied across race and gender, drawing on survey data from 1,198 faculty members in two university systems in the U.S. The authors found that, compared to their colleagues, women and faculty of color spent more time on service and teaching, performed more emotional labor, and experienced more burnout. Their findings provide insight into how pandemic increases in academic labor fell more heavily on some faculty members than others and contribute to our understanding of mechanisms that reproduce inequality in the academy.