Women, Writing, and the Pandemic: An Autoethnographic Study on Factors Constraining or Supporting Women’s Research Writing at a Small Christian University

Abstract

Previous research has shown that women face unique challenges in higher education when it comes to research, writing, and getting published. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified these challenges as both domestic and professional obligations increased for many women in academia. The goal of this autoethnographic study was to investigate the factors that supported or constrained four women faculty’s research writing during a pandemic in the context of a small Christian teaching university. We collected data for a year via long-term and weekly goal setting surveys, weekly reflections, and semester reflections, which generated 170 comments on supporting and constraining factors, including 97 comments on constraining factors and 73 comments on supporting factors. Our data analysis identified themes that emerged from these comments, revealing seven main factors that constrain women’s writing (i.e., family needs, mental and physical health, service and administrative work, teaching responsibilities, lack of research-related resources, non-research writing, and individual factors) and 10 main factors that supported women’s writing (i.e., peer accountability and support, deadlines, scheduling a regular time and place for research, setting concrete research goals, having uninterrupted research time, prioritizing mental and physical health, family and personal support, participating in the writing retreat, research resources, and other individual factors). The findings of this research project shed light on the understudied populations of Christian women scholars and their writing practices and offer implications for Christian higher educational leaders and faculty on how to support women’s research productivity in a post-pandemic world.