Accidental Flexibility: The Effects of COVID-19-Induced Remote Learning on Graduate Student Mothers

Abstract

Graduate student mothers are in a unique position, balancing the competing roles of mother, student, and worker. The struggle to balance these roles often results in family-to-work conflict, an integral piece in maintaining gender inequality within universities and other similarly structured organizations. For a moment in time, the COVID-19 pandemic upended these organizations, changing the ways mothers performed their dueling roles through the removal of key resources and changes in flexibility. Using semi-structured interviews with 19 participants conducted throughout the fall and winter of 2022, this study explores how the lives of graduate student mothers were affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and shift to remote learning. For some, the pandemic negatively affected their progress due to a loss of resources and increased unpredictability. However, for others, the pandemic alleviated conflict between their dueling roles, allowing them to better manage their responsibilities regardless of interruptions in child care. The findings of this study contribute to a larger understanding of how organizational structure maintains inequality and how policies like remote work and child care may influence it.