Betty Friedan highlighted the many ways that cultural images and expectations of gender in the 1950s and 60s held women back. The expectations derived most obviously from patriarchy, which Friedan recognized, but also from white supremacy, capitalism, and heterosexism, which she did not. In Friedan’s time the feminine mystique certainly constrained women’s senses of themselves and their possibilities, but at least it recognized women as a group. The “lesbian mystique,” by contrast, denied lesbians even existed. The concept was literally inconceivable. In the 19th century, Queen Victoria is rumored to have flatly proclaimed: “Women don’t do that.”
Topics of Expertise: Gender & Sexuality / LGBTQ Partnering & FamiliesGender & Sexuality
Gender & Sexuality
Publications under this topic cover new research on male-female relationships, gender equity in employment, and gay and lesbian issues. Look here for debates and essays on whether the gender revolution has stalled (at home or at work), how men’s and women’s behaviors and values are changing, and new research on reproductive issues.
Feminine Mystique Symposium: Feminism and Families Today
Experts: Stephanie Coontz
On the 50th Anniversary of The Feminine Mystique, Council on Contemporary Families Scholars identify what’s changed—and what hasn’t.
Topics of Expertise: Division of Labor in Families / Feminism & Families / Gender & Sexuality / History & Trends on Gender, Marriage & Family Life / LGBTQ Partnering & Families / Race, Ethnicity & Culture / Work & FamilyGender in ‘Jeopardy!’: Uptalk isn’t just for Valley Girls?
By Thomas J. Linneman Associate Professor of Sociology The College of William and Mary tjlinn@wm.edu; 804-822-2282. He didn’t provide an answer in question format, but The College of William & Mary’s Thomas Linneman told us how women and men both use uptalk in his new study, “Gender in Jeopardy! Intonation Variation on a Television Game Show,” in the February issue of […]
Topics of Expertise: Gender & SexualityIt’s Not Just City Folk: Gays and Lesbians Experience Striking Gains in Acceptance in All Regions and Subgroups of America
At a time of dramatic change in attitudes towards gays and lesbians in America, a new study released this month in Gender & Society highlights the diversity of gay and lesbian experiences in America. “Midwest or Lesbian? Gender, Rurality, and Sexuality,” by University of Nebraska sociologist Emily Kazyak, puts the lives of rural gays and […]
Topics of Expertise: Gender & Sexuality / History & Trends on Gender, Marriage & Family Life / LGBTQ Partnering & FamiliesMyths About Later Motherhood: Fact Sheet
Today, almost 40 percent of all babies in the United States are born to women over 30, and almost 15 percent – 1 in 7 – are born to women 35 and over. As the chart below of historical trends in women’s fertility rates by age demonstrates, birth rates to women aged 15-24 have […]
Topics of Expertise: Child Welfare / Fertility,Reproduction & Sexual Health / Gender & Sexuality / Health & Illness / History & Trends on Gender, Marriage & Family LifeWomen’s Education and their Likelihood of Marriage: A Historic Reversal
Experts: Paula England
By Paula England Professor of Sociology New York University Email: pengland@nyu.edu Phone 650-815-9308 Jonathan Bearak Ph.D. Candidate New York University Email: jonathan.bearak@nyu.edu Historically, women who graduated from college were far more likely than any other group of women — whether high school dropouts, high school graduates, or women with some college – to remain […]
Topics of Expertise: Couples Conflict, Separation & Divorce / Gender & Sexuality / History & Trends on Gender, Marriage & Family LifeWomen’s Education and Their Likelihood of Marriage: A Historical Reversal
Experts: Stephanie Coontz
For most of the 20th century, women who completed higher education were far less likely to be married than their less-educated counterparts. Then in 2010, the Council on Contemporary Families (CCF) reported new research showing that although college-educated women were still more likely to never marry at all than women with lower educational levels, they were so much less likely to divorce that by age 40, a higher proportion of college-educated women were married than any other group.
Topics of Expertise: Couples Conflict, Separation & Divorce / Gender & Sexuality / Singles & DatingPhilip Cohen Reponds to International Women’s Day Discourse
For more than 30 years, people concerned about the global inequality between men and women have been circulating the claim that women receive only one-tenth of world income and own only 1 percent of the world’s property. This claim was repeated on CNN and other outlets for International Women’s Day. There is a great deal of gender inequality in the world, and much of the burden of global economic inequality in particular is borne by the women of the poorest countries. However, these facts are simply not true, and it we would all benefit from a better-informed discussion of gender inequality.
Topics of Expertise: Gender & SexualityCCF Gender Revolution Symposium
Experts: Stephanie Coontz
In 1973 – less than 40 years ago — the Supreme Court ruled that sex-segregated employment ads were illegal. The next two decades saw massive, rapid action in eradicating old laws and prejudices. But now three researchers argue that progress toward gender equality has slowed or even stalled since the early 1990s.
In this CCF online symposium in time for International Women’s Day, David A. Cotter, Joan M. Hermsen and Reeve Vanneman present their discussion paper “Is the Gender Revolution Over?” and CCF fellows from around the United States offer a series of responses that add to this discussion.
Topics of Expertise: Feminism & Families / Gender & Sexuality / History & Trends on Gender, Marriage & Family Life / Race, Ethnicity & CultureCCF Gender Revolution Symposium: What If Women Were In Charge?
Philip N. Cohen, Ph.D. Department of Sociology University of Maryland, College Park Phone: 919 260 2868 Email: pnc@umd.edu Few would deny there was a gender revolution in the world of management from the 1970s through the mid-1990s or so. But after more than doubling from 1970 to 1990 – from less than 15 percent to […]
Topics of Expertise: Gender & Sexuality / Work & FamilyEXPERTS
Daniel Carlson
Assistant Professor of Family, Health, and Policy in the Department of Family and Consumer Studies at the University of Utah
Associate Professor of Labor and Employment Relations and Sociology, The Pennsylvania State University
Jane Flax
Scholar in Residence, American University
Associate Professor, Department of Family Science & Human Development, Montclair State University
Clinical Director, Perelman School of Medicine, Dept of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania
Tanya Koropeckyj-Cox
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law, University of Florida
Irene Padavic
Professor of Sociology, Florida State University
Assistant Professor of Communication and Department Coordinator, Minot State University
Professor and Chair, Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin
Professor of Sociology and Director of the Population Studies and Training Center, Brown University
Professor, Department of Sociology & Population Studies Center, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Director of Sedona Counselling Centre of Montreal, Psychotherapist, Author, Divorce Recovery Expert
