Francine Descarries (born 1942) is a Canadian sociologist. She is a professor of sociology at the

Université du Québec à Montréal The (UQAM; ), is a French language, French-language public university, public research university based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest constituent element of the system. UQAM was founded on April 9, 1969, by the government o ...

. She is considered a leading figure in

feminist studies ''Feminist Studies'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering women's studies that was established in 1972. It is an independent nonprofit publication housed at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. Besides scholarly artic ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

Biography

At the age of 16, after the death of her father, Descarries left school so that her family could afford her brother's medical training. Descarries found work as a legal secretary then as a travel agent, then left the workforce to care for her children. She returned to school at age 27, shortly after the birth of her second child. She attended

Cégep Édouard-Montpetit Cégep Édouard-Montpetit () is a public Francophone college in Longueuil, Quebec, Canada. Approximately 7,300 (fall 2016) students (as much in the Continuing Education programs) are enrolled in the 2 campuses, the main one located in Longueuil a ...

. With a scholarly interest in women's issues and feminism, Descarries went on to earn undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in sociology from the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (; UdeM; ) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce on M ...

. In 1980, Descarries published ''L'École rose… et les cols roses'' (The pink school... and the

pink collar A pink-collar worker is someone working in the care-oriented career field or in fields historically considered to be women's work. This may include jobs in the beauty industry, nursing, social work, teaching, secretarial work, or child care. W ...

), based on her master's research. The book addressed the

sexual division of labour Sexual division of labour (SDL) is the delegation of different tasks between the male and female members of a species. Among human hunter-gatherer societies, males and females are responsible for the acquisition of different types of foods and sh ...

and

social reproduction Social reproduction describes the reproduction of social structures and systems, mainly on the basis of particular preconditions in demographics, education and inheritance of material property or legal titles (as earlier with aristocracy). Reprod ...

in workplaces and schools in Quebec. In 1985, she joined the faculty at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). In 1990, she became a founding member of the Institute of Feminist Research and Studies at UQAM. Descarries served as the scientific committee director for the 7th , held in Montreal in 2015. Descarries's scholarly interests include

feminist theory Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or Philosophy, philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's and men's Gender role, social roles, experiences, intere ...

, the evolution of the women's movement in Quebec, family, and

women in the workforce Since the Industrial Revolution, participation of women in the workforce outside the home has increased in industrialized nations, with particularly large growth seen in the 20th century. Largely seen as a boon for industrial society, women ...

Awards and honours

* 2012: Ursula Franklin Award in Gender Studies,

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

* 2019:

Prix Marie-Andrée-Bertrand The Prix Marie-Andrée-Bertrand is an award by the Government of Quebec that is part of the Prix du Québec. It is awarded to persons whose scope and scientific quality of research led to the development and implementation of social innovations, ...

Prix du Québec The Prix du Québec () are awards given by the Government of Quebec to individuals for cultural and scientific achievements. Founded in 1977, the government annually awards seven awards in the cultural field and six in the scientific field. Cultu ...

Government of Québec The Government of Quebec (, ) is the body responsible for the administration of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. The term is typically used to refer to the executive of the day (i.e. Minister of the Crown, mini ...

Selected works

Books

* *

Articles

* * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Descarries, Francine Living people 1942 births Université de Montréal alumni Academic staff of the Université du Québec à Montréal Canadian women academics Canadian academics of women's studies Canadian women social scientists Canadian sociologists Canadian women sociologists Cégep Édouard-Montpetit alumni