By Charlotte Brookins 

University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences faculty member Brady G’Sell recently received the American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship by the American Association of University Women. The award carries a $50,000 grant and will allow G’Sell to take time to focus on her research and finish her upcoming book with Stanford University Press. 

“I am humbled by this tremendous opportunity,” says G’Sell, who is a faculty member of the Department of Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies. 

She goes on to explain the impact the pandemic has on working women, like her, during the pandemic. In academia specifically, she says publication rates rapidly declined, but this award will give her back some of the time and resources she lost in the height of COVID.  

"The AAUW has fought for gender equity in education and employment for over a century,” she says. “Still, fellowships like this mean all the more since the pandemic, due to the incredible gendered disparities around childcare obligations and the disruptions to academic activity. This particular scholarship provides female-identifying faculty time and funding for research, which many lost in the pandemic lockdown.” 

G’Sell’s book will discuss the connections between Black women’s citizenship and familial obligations in post-apartheid South Africa, where unemployment rates are at roughly 40 percent. G’Sell has traveled to South Africa to conduct extensive research on the topic, speaking with women about their experiences. 

“I’m in South Africa in 2014 on the eve of their fifth election under democracy, and I’m speaking to a Zulu woman who will be voting for maybe the second or third time in her life,” describes G’Sell. “I ask, ‘is this an exciting moment? Is it a big thing to exercise your citizenship tomorrow?’ And she says to me, ‘No, I am not a citizen because I can’t support my kids.’ Her response blew my mind open. What does that mean? How are those two things connected? That’s what this book is about.” 

After completing her book, G’Sell will use the remainder of the fellowship to focus on her next research project, which involves comparing the migration experiences of African immigrants who journey to South Africa and those who come to Iowa. She also hopes to use this time to think deeply about her role as an educator and brainstorm how she can continue to be welcoming and responsive to all students. 

“I’m hoping to carve out spaces for curiosity, joy, and exploration, and to invest in the next years of teaching,” G’Sell says. “So it is about research, but I’m really looking forward to the retooling of my teaching, too.” 

The American Association of University Women was founded in 1881 and has since taken on a major role in supporting women in academia across the country.