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Academics with children plead for more support

Scientists criticise German policies resulting from pandemic that disadvantage young parents

Several hundred scientists in Germany have spoken out against the disadvantages faced by younger researchers with children, caused by the country’s lockdown policies resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.

Across Germany, schools and childcare facilities have been closed since the middle of March, meaning parents working from home must juggle work with the care of often very young children. An open letter signed last week by hundreds of early-career scientists pointed out that this meant one adult per family had to be largely absent from work, as caring for small children is a demanding and full-time responsibility.

Such circumstances mean that academics with small children could fall behind their childless peers, the scientists wrote. The situation is particularly impacting women, who find themselves pushed into a situation where they must necessarily focus less on career. The letter warned that the number of publications submitted by women is falling.

The signatories of the letter ask the government “to give more priority to the reopening of daycare centres and kindergartens, in small groups”.

The group is concerned that many of the scientific assessments of Covid-19 and the resulting lockdown were “written and implemented by people of an older generation”. The letter refers to the coronavirus working group of the Leopoldina, the German academy of science, which has issued a string of policy recommendations on the crisis.

This working group, the letter pointed out, includes only two female members out of 24. In addition, the average age of the experts in the group is 63, with the youngest member being 50 years old.

As a result, younger people and those with young children are not adequately represented in scientific discussions about the country’s response to the virus, the letter argued.

“The age group we represent has a completely different economic and social point of view between career planning, family and future,” the authors said. “If there is one generation that has to shoulder the long-term consequences of the current crisis, it is mainly this generation.”

Those most affected are aged between 25 to 45 years, at a time when their careers are financially vulnerable and on an uncertain trajectory, the scientists said.

“We therefore call upon the authors of the previous recommendations and politicians to openly discuss future recommendations with representatives of younger generations, and to take our perspective into account more strongly in the democratic decision-making process.”

In Berlin, a separate open letter called for better remuneration of non-tenured university lecturers, as the crisis created a greater workload on some staff.

“The changes forced by the ban on teaching in person are huge,” said Markus Wissen, a social scientist at the Berlin School of Economics and Law, in an accompanying statement. “Without the commitment of the lecturers, teaching would come to a standstill at many universities.”

Tom Erdmann, chairman of the Berlin chapter of the university teachers’ union GEW, said that lecturers on fixed-term contracts faced a loss of income if courses were cancelled and had no protection against dismissal. He said that full professors who find themselves in a secure financial situation should stand in solidarity with their untenured colleagues.

A version of this article also appeared in Research Europe