CCF Civil Rights Symposium: Women’s Changing Social Status since the Civil Rights Act

Posted on February 6, 2014 in Brief Reports

Experts: Stephanie Coontz

Today the Council on Contemporary Families releases the third set of papers in a three part symposium marking the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. The first two sets of papers described changes in America’s religious and racial-ethnic landscape in the half century since it became illegal to discriminate on the basis of religion, skin color, national origin, race, ethnicity or gender.

It’s appropriate that we turn last to how women have fared since passage of the Civil Rights Act, because the addition of the word “sex” was a last minute addition to the bill. Opponents hoped — and supporters feared — that threatening to make discrimination on the basis of sex illegal would kill the bill, and when it passed anyway, few policymakers took the sex provision seriously. Although the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission immediately moved to ban job ads that specified a particular race, it refused to do the same for the sex-segregated want ads that were the norm in 1964.

Topics of Expertise: Division of Labor in Families / Feminism & Families / Fertility,Reproduction & Sexual Health / Gender & Sexuality / Health & Illness / History & Trends on Gender, Marriage & Family Life / Labor & Workforce / Work & Family

Trends in Global Gender Equity

Posted on June 7, 2013 in Brief Reports

By Stephanie Seguino Professor of Economics University of Vermont stephanie.seguino@uvm.edu; 802.656.0187 First the good news: Gender parity has already been reached in secondary educational enrollment rates in high-income countries and in Latin America and the Caribbean. From 1975 to 2010, the Arab region saw a remarkable rise in the ratio of female to male secondary […]

Topics of Expertise: Health & Illness / Work & Family

Myths About Later Motherhood: Fact Sheet

Posted on July 25, 2012 in Fact Sheets

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 Life

Keeping Your Family (and Yourself) Healthy During the Holidays

Posted on November 28, 2011 in Fact Sheets

Experts: Deborah Carr

Keeping healthy during the holiday season isn’t something we need to do alone, however. Decades of research by social scientists show that good relationships keep us healthy. Spouses, partners, and friends can help us to eat and sleep well, motivate us to exercise, and provide emotional support during stressful times. Here are ten tips to keep yourself (and your families) healthy throughout the holiday season.

Topics of Expertise: Health & Illness

The Americans with Disabilities Act: A Civil Rights Landmark for People with Disabilities, Including Down Syndrome

Posted on July 26, 2011 in Brief Reports

The Americans with Disabilities Act, passed July 26, 1990, is one of the most significant pieces of civil rights legislation in American history. What the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did for people of color, the Americans with Disabilities Act did for people with disabilities — a population of between 36 and 54 million Americans, representing 12 to 19 percent of the U.S. population.

Topics of Expertise: Health & Illness / Health Care

Celebrating Women’s Health Week: 30 Minutes a Day to Better Health

Posted on May 8, 2011 in Fact Sheets

Experts: Deborah Carr

National Women’s Health Week (May 8-14, 2011) is a week-long observance spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health. The theme for 2011 is “It’s Your Time.” National Women’s Health Week empowers women to make their health a top priority, and encourages them to take steps to improve their […]

Topics of Expertise: Health & Illness

Keeping Your Partner (and Yourself) Healthy During the Holidays

Posted on December 19, 2009 in Fact Sheets

By Deborah Carr, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Sociology Rutgers University Kristen W. Springer, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Sociology Rutgers University The holiday season is one of the most festive times of the year. But the joys of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year’s Eve have a dark side: the physical toll that comes from unhealthy […]

Topics of Expertise: Family Counseling, Therapy & Parenting Intervention / Health & Illness

Is That a Fact? Three Brief Reports on the Credibility of Facts

Posted on August 15, 2009 in Brief Reports

Experts: Stephanie Coontz

Americans are bombarded by a constant stream of competing factoids and causal claims about families. Politicians, advocacy groups, pundits, and instant internet “experts” claim that social science “proves” this or that is the impact of divorce, “surveys show” what people think about marriage, or “the facts are clear” about the benefits of one family form or another. Are some facts more trustworthy than others, and if so, how can we tell the trustworthy from the untrustworthy? What is the difference between a cause, a correlation and a coincidence?

Topics of Expertise: Couples Conflict, Separation & Divorce / Health & Illness

Valentine’s Day Fact Sheet on Sexual Health

Posted on February 14, 2009 in Fact Sheets

Experts: Adina Nack

What do you plan to give your valentine this February 14 – a bouquet of flowers, a heart-shaped box of chocolates, a candlelit dinner? Have you considered the gift that keeps on giving — a sexually transmitted infection? STD’s have reached an all time high, mostly because they are being talked about much less. Sexually […]

Topics of Expertise: Fertility,Reproduction & Sexual Health / Health & Illness / Reproductive Health

It’s April 15: Do You Know Where Your Income Tax Dollars Are Going?

Posted on April 15, 2008 in Brief Reports

Experts: Andrew Cherlin

Americans tend to think we are better off than families in most other industrial countries because we pay lower income taxes. But when we factor in the higher amount Americans pay for health care, child care, and education, the comparison is not always in our favor. Where do American families’ tax dollars go and […]

Topics of Expertise: Economic Inequality / Health & Illness / Health Care / Labor & Workforce / TANF & Public Assistance / Work & Family

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EXPERTS

Dolores Acevedo-Garcia

Samuel F. and Rose B. Gingold Professor of Human Development and Social Policy, Director, Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy/ The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University

Daniel Carlson

Assistant Professor of Family, Health, and Policy in the Department of Family and Consumer Studies at the University of Utah

Deborah Carr

Professor of Sociology, Boston University

Robert Crosnoe

Chair, Department of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin

Lauren Jade Martin

Associate Professor of Sociology, Penn State University

Adina Nack

Professor of Sociology, California Lutheran University

Christina Paxman

Assistant Professor of Communication and Department Coordinator, Minot State University

Luke Russell

Assistant Professor, Illinois State University

Kevin Shafer

Associate Professor of Sociology, Brigham Young University & McMaster University

Susan Short

Professor of Sociology and Director of the Population Studies and Training Center, Brown University

Debra Umberson

Centennial Professor in Liberal Arts and Professor of Sociology, University of Texas

Ellen Wartella

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor of Communication, Professor of Psychology, and Professor of Human Development and Social Policy, Professor of Medical Social Sciences Director, Center on Media and Human Development School of Communication Chair, Department of Communication Studies

Kristi Williams

Professor, Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University

Sarah Wright

Executive Director, Social Work in Progress