
Rosanna Hertz
1919 Reunion Professor of Sociology and Women's and Gender Studies, Wellesley College
Email:
rhertz@wellesley.edu
Topics of Expertise:
Feminism & Families / Fertility,Reproduction & Sexual Health / Gender & Sexuality / Marriage & Divorce / Reproductive Health / Work & Family
In broad terms, Professor Hertz studies families and how they respond to economic and technological change. Her focus is on how social inequality at home and in the workplace shape the experiences of women and men. For example, she is interested in the pivotal moments that influence the behavior of women as leaders. Another stream of her research looks at the complexity of “modern families” created through the use of donor gametes and embryos and how the Internet is both revolutionizing the choices for people seeking to enter into third-party reproduction arrangements and creating new possibilities for connection. These new families (donor-conceived children) and their parents are at the forefront of kin expansion today. Hertz has written several books including Genetic Strangers (coauthored and forthcoming); Single by Chance, Mothers by Choice, and More Equal than Others: Women and Men in Dual-Career Marriages.