Supporting women in academia during and after a global pandemic.

Tiffany A. Reese Tamia A. Harris-Tryon Jennifer G. Gill Laura A. Banaszynski The COVID-19 pandemic has created many new challenges and also magnified ongoing issues. In September 2020, the COVID-19 “childcare crisis” led to women leaving the U.S. workforce at nearly four times the rate as men ( 1 ). For women pursuing careers in academic science, the pandemic has imperiled many. Not only are we deal ing with lost childcare and other family supports but we also continue to face long-standing inequalities and structural barriers within academia. More than ever, now is the time to challenge long-standing institutional traditions and policies that propagate gender inequity. Solving such widespread problems will not be easy, but with persistent effort and multipronged approaches, institutions can restructure academic science so that it supports and retains the best and brightest minds. The most progressive and successful institutions will break the antiquated mold of academic science and eliminate barriers to recruiting and retaining women in science. Below, we suggest a series of policy changes and institutional investments that will support the needs of women scientists so that we can achieve gender equity in academic science. Until this system is built, we will continue to lose women at every career stage. Academia needs to build a system that anticipates that …