Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies

Women scientists were written out of history. It’s Margaret Rossiter’s lifelong mission to fix that

M. Susan Lindee of the School of Arts and Sciences praised academic Margaret Rossiter’s research on women’s contributions to science. “We have to look at her past work carefully,” said Lindee, “and re-examine all those brilliant strategies that women used to contest institutional power, which was oriented around preventing them from succeeding.”

Interrupting is different for men and women, even on debate stage

Adam Grant of the Wharton School spoke about gender dynamics in the Democratic presidential debates. “Female candidates face a double bind: stay silent and fail to be heard, or speak up and get judged as too aggressive,” he said.

newborn baby in bassinet beside hospital bed with birth mother in background

Why are so many women still dying from childbirth?

Experts from Penn discuss the role that social determinants, socioeconomics, and racism play, and how the University is addressing the maternal mortality crisis head on.

Paid family leave: What’s the right model?

With companies exploring gender biases in the workplace, the issue of parental leave highlights gender inequality and brings all parents into the fold when analyzing family leave policies.

A non-binary person using a laptop at work.

How gender and racial biases are hurting economics

Following a survey released this month by the American Economic Association that reveals a disturbingly high level of gender bias in the field, Wharton’s Olivia S. Mitchell discusses the effects of gender and racial biases in the field of economics.

Panelists at the "Grassroots Organizing in the MeToo Era" at Perry World House

Making a movement from #MeToo

At Perry World House Monday, activists from around the world talked about how they’re working to make sure the stories of women and girls are told—and heard.

Have you wished your mother a happy International Women’s Day yet?

Kristen Ghodsee of the School of Arts and Sciences shared the socialist origins of International Women’s Day and how it might serve as a contemporary, feminist alternative to Mother’s Day.

The U.S. teaching population is getting bigger, and more female

Richard Ingersoll of the School of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School of Education was cited for a study which noted an increasingly disproportionate number of women teaching K-12 in recent years due in part to social perceptions of teaching as “feminine” labor.

Feminista Jones and Tanji Gilliam seated in front of a small crowd at the Penn Book Center

Black feminism 101

Author and alum Feminista Jones joined Tanji Gilliam of Africana Studies in a discussion of her new book “Reclaiming Our Space,” examining how Twitter and modern liberation movements are all borne from black women’s words, struggle, and history.

An old-fashioned washing machine, which looks like two wooden barrels on legs, next to each other and connected by large wiring.

How the appliance boom moved more women into the workforce

A new book from economist Jeremy Greenwood looks at the effects of technological progress on home life.

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