On-campus childcare ‘should be seen as a great opportunity’

Study finds that women bore the brunt of childcare duties during lockdown

Universities must become much more family-friendly following the pandemic, academics have said, after the nationwide coronavirus lockdown exposed a stark gender gap in caring responsibilities.

In a paper published on 7 December, Bournemouth University academics Sara Ashencaen Crabtree, Luciana Esteves and Ann Hemingway called for universities to learn the lessons of the pandemic. The first lockdown, which began in March, “magnified formerly less visible gendered disparities between genders in terms of work-life balance and career opportunities”, they said.