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Quick Facts
Biography
Paula S. England (born 4 December 1949), is an American sociologist and Professor at New York University. Her research has focused on gender inequality in the labor market, the family, and sexuality. She has also studied class differences in contraception and nonmarital births.
Education
England got a BA in Sociology and Psychology from Whitman College in the year 1971, an MA in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago in the 1972, and a PhD in the 1975, also from the University of Chicago.
Work
England has served as a professor at the University of Texas-Dallas, University of Arizona, University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, Stanford University, and New York University [CV]. She served as President of the American Sociological Association from August 2014 to August 2015.
England's research showed that both men and women earn less if they work in a predominantly female occupation, even after adjusting for differences between occupations in the skill and education they require. She called this a type of sex discrimination distinct from lack of equal pay for equal work in the same job, and distinct from the hiring discrimination against women trying to enter jobs. She argued that employers—consciously or unconsciously—take the sex composition of jobs into account when they set pay levels, acting as if jobs done by women can't be worth much. She argued that this bias reflects a general cultural devaluation of women and roles associated with women, and that institutional inertia cements this bias into wage structures. She also showed that when occupations feminize, their pay goes down.
England has also studied how gender norms structure the college hookup culture, which features nonrelational sex.
Awards
In 1999 the American Sociological Association recognized her with the Jessie Bernard Award for Distinguished Scholarship on Gender. In 2010 the American Sociological Association's Section on Sociology of the Family recognized her with a Distinguished Career Award. In 2009 she was elected the Frances Perkins Fellow by the American Academy of Political and Social Science. In 2015 the Population Association of America awarded her the Harriet Presser award for research on gender and demography.
Selected bibliography
Books
- England, Paula; Farkas, George (1986). Households, Employment, and Gender: A Social, Economic, and Demographic view. New York: Aldine Publishing Co. ISBN 9780202303239.
- England, Paula (1992). Comparable Worth: Theories and Evidence. New York: Aldine de Gruyter. ISBN 9780202303499.
Chapters in books
- England, Paula (1993), "The separative self: androcentric bias in neoclassical assumptions", in Nelson, Julie A.; Ferber, Marianne, Beyond economic man feminist theory and economics, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 37–53, ISBN 9780226242088.
- England, Paula (1995), "A feminist critique of rational-choice theories: implications for sociology", in Humphries, Jane, Gender and economics, Aldershot, England Brookfield, Vermont, USA: Edward Elgar, pp. 42–58, ISBN 9781852788438.
- England, Paula (1995), "The failure of human capital theory to explain occupational sex segregation", in Humphries, Jane, Gender and economics, Aldershot, England Brookfield, Vermont, USA: Edward Elgar, pp. 361–384, ISBN 9781852788438.
- England, Paula; Budig, Michelle J. (1998), "Gary Becker on the family: his genius, impact, and blind spots", in Clawson, Dan, Required reading: sociology's most influential books, Amherst, Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press, pp. 99–111, ISBN 9781558491533.
- England, Paula (2003), "Separative and soluble selves: dichotomous thinking in economics", in Nelson, Julie A.; Ferber, Marianne, Feminist economics today: beyond economic man, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 33–59, ISBN 9780226242071.
- England, Paula (2006), "Toward gender equality: progress and bottlenecks", in Blau, Francine D.; Brinton, Mary C.; Grusky, David B., The declining significance of gender?, New York: Russell Sage Foundation, pp. 245–264, ISBN 9780871543707.
Articles
- England, Paula (Summer 1982). "The failure of human capital theory to explain occupational sex segregation". Journal of Human Resources. University of Wisconsin Press. 17 (3): 358–370. doi:10.2307/145585. JSTOR 145585.
- England, Paula (March 1984). "Wage appreciation and depreciation: a test of neoclassical economic explanations of occupational sex segregation". Social Forces. Oxford Journals. 62 (3): 726–749. doi:10.1093/sf/62.3.726.
- England, Paula (Summer 1985). "Occupational segregation: rejoinder to Polachek". Journal of Human Resources. University of Wisconsin Press. 20 (3): 441–443. doi:10.2307/145893. JSTOR 145893.
- England, Paula; Farkas, George; Kilbourne, Barbara; Dou, Thomas (August 1988). "Explaining occupational sex segregation and wages: findings from a model with fixed effects". American Sociological Review. Sage. 53 (4): 544–558. doi:10.2307/2095848.
- England, Paula (March 1989). "A feminist critique of rational-choice theories: implications for sociology". The American Sociologist. Springer. 20 (1): 14–28. doi:10.1007/BF02697784. JSTOR 27698446.
- Kilbourne, Barbara; England, Paula; Farkas, George; Beron, Kurt; Weir, Dorothea (November 1994). "Return to skills, compensating differentials, and gender bias: effects of occupational characteristics on the wages of white women and men". American Journal of Sociology. Chicago Journals. 100 (3): 689–719. doi:10.1086/230578.
- England, Paula; Reid, Lori L.; Kilbourne, Barbara Stanek (November 1996). "The effect of the sex composition of jobs on starting wages in an organization: findings from the NLSY". Demography. Springer. 33 (4): 511–521. doi:10.2307/2061784. PMID 8939422.
- Budig, Michelle J.; England, Paula (April 2001). "The wage penalty for motherhood". American Sociological Review. Sage. 66 (2): 204–225. doi:10.2307/2657415. JSTOR 2657415. Also presented at the 1999 AEA.
- England, Paula; Budig, Michelle; Folbre, Nancy (November 2002). "Wages of virtue: the relative pay of care work". Social Problems. Oxford Journals. 49 (4): 455–473. doi:10.1525/sp.2002.49.4.455.
- Bittman, Michael; England, Paula; Sayer, Liana; Folbre, Nancy; Matheson, George (July 2003). "When does gender trump money?: Bargaining and time in household work". American Journal of Sociology. Chicago Journals. 109 (1): 186–214. doi:10.1086/378341.
- England, Paula (August 2005). "Emerging theories of care work". Annual Review of Sociology. Annual Reviews. 31: 381–399. doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.31.041304.122317.
- Levanon, Asaf; England, Paula; Allison, Paul (December 2009). "Occupational feminization and pay: assessing casual dynamics using 1950-2000 census data". Social Forces. Oxford Journals. 88 (2): 865–892. doi:10.1353/sof.0.0264.
- Musick, Kelly; England, Paula; Edgington, Sarah; Kangas, Nicole (December 2009). "Education differences in intended and unintended fertility". Social Forces. Oxford Journals. 88 (2): 543–572. doi:10.1353/sof.0.0278.
- Armstrong, Elizabeth A.; Hamilton, Laura; England, Paula (August 2010). "Is hooking up bad for young women?". Contexts. Sage. 9 (3): 22–27. doi:10.1525/ctx.2010.9.3.22. Text.
- Sayer, Liana; England, Paula; Allison, Paul; Kangas, Nicole (May 2011). "She left, he left: how employment and satisfaction affect women's and men's decisions to leave marriages". American Journal of Sociology. Chicago Journals. 116 (6): 1982–2018. doi:10.1086/658173. PMID 21932472.
- Armstrong, Elizabeth; England, Paula; Fogarty, Alison (June 2012). "Accounting for women's orgasm and sexual enjoyment in college hookups and relationships". American Sociological Review. Sage. 77 (3): 435–462. doi:10.1177/0003122412445802.
- England, Paula; Wu, Lawrence L.; Shafer, Emily Fitzgibbons (December 2013). "Cohort trends in premarital births: what role for the retreat from marriage?". Demography. Springer. 50 (6): 2075–2104. doi:10.1007/s13524-013-0241-1.