ABSTRACT
This chapter is based on a national study in South Africa across 26 public universities to assess the experiences of 2,025 academic women during the enforced pandemic lockdown. Unprecedented disruptions created unsettling conditions impacting distant and hybrid work modes unmasking dimensions of home environments as congested, competitive and constrained place for women to conduct academic work. Drawing on Human Centered Management(HCM) principles and practices, this chapter explores effects of home, family, childcare and domestic duties on perceptions of resilience and wellbeing. Findings identified several disruptions with major influence on wellbeing of participants exhibiting resilience-related Soft Skills linked to emotional intelligence, collaboration, problem-solving, patience and learning from failure. The results allow to offer practical HCM suggestions for academic women and also for institutions to address disruptions and crises aiming to secure personal and institutional sustainability in academia.
