ABSTRACT
The experience of birthing partners was also negatively impacted by the restrictions imposed as a result of an upsurge in COVID-19 cases. The COVID-19 pandemic struck like a lightning on a clear sunny day. COVID-19 brought an end to the world as we know it, and affected everyone, irrespective of one’s position in the life course. Since women perform over 75% of all of the world’s unpaid work, it was unsurprising that Matthewman and Huppatz found that women scholars were unable to conduct as much research due to caring for relatives with the virus and with schools and childcare centres being closed. The perils of globalisation biases and neo-liberal hegemony are really testing the established ethos and vision of COVID-19 related literature which is running the risk of experiencing academic imperialism, by being dominated by Western philosophies and modes of practice, and Eurocentric hegemonies as a way of knowing, seeing and understanding the pandemic.
