Harriet B. Presser (1936–2012) was a sociologist and

demographer Demography () is the statistical study of human populations: their size, composition (e.g., ethnic group, age), and how they change through the interplay of fertility (births), mortality (deaths), and migration. Demographic analysis examine ...

. Having served on the faculty at the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

, for more than 30 years, at the time of her death she was a Distinguished University Professor. She was elected president of the

Population Association of America The Population Association of America (PAA) is a non-profit scientific professional association dedicated to the study of issues related to population and demography. The PAA was established by Henry Pratt Fairchild and Frederick Osborn, with fun ...

for the year 1989. In addition, she was awarded the

Jessie Bernard Award {{refimprove, date=July 2022 The Jessie Bernard Award is given by the American Sociological Association in recognition of scholarly work that has enlarged the horizons of sociology to encompass fully the role of women in society. The contribution m ...

from the

American Sociological Association The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fi ...

in 2010, and was elected as a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

to the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

in 2002. As a scholar, she studied the intersection of gender, work and family, and pioneered the sociological specialization in that area. She was widely recognized for bringing a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

perspective to the demographic study of such issues as

fertility Fertility in colloquial terms refers the ability to have offspring. In demographic contexts, fertility refers to the actual production of offspring, rather than the physical capability to reproduce, which is termed fecundity. The fertility rate ...

child care Child care, also known as day care, is the care and supervision of one or more children, typically ranging from three months to 18 years old. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(ren), childcare typica ...

, housework, and the effects of the global 24/7 service economy. In 2009, the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population held a special session in her honor, titled "Cross-Cultural Challenges to Research on Gender and Population", at its 26th International Population Conference in Marrakesh.

Research contributions

In 1969, Presser reported on the unprecedented levels of female sterilization on the island of

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

. According to her 1965 data, 34% of mothers ages 20–49 had been sterilized, resulting in a rapid drop in the island's fertility rate. The Puerto Rican case eventually was exposed as one of the most egregious cases of

compulsory sterilization Compulsory sterilization, also known as forced or coerced sterilization, refers to any government-mandated program to involuntarily sterilize a specific group of people. Sterilization removes a person's capacity to reproduce, and is usually do ...

policies. In the 1970s, she published extensively on the timing of fertility and its consequences for women's adult lives. The research helped establish the critical importance of the timing of first births and whether they were planned. In the 1980s Presser studied the challenges of

, its affordability and availability. In particular, she pointed out that as women entered the labor force at higher rates, child care posed problems both for families and for the organization of the workplace. This was the subject of her presidential address to the

, "Can We Make Time for Children?" In 1983, in the journal ''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'', Presser and Virginia Cain reported that one-third of dual-earner families with children had a spouse working outside of "regular" working hours. In a subsequent study, Presser found that husbands were more likely to do housework if they were home when their wives were working. That was early evidence of how families with children juggled time demands when both spouses were working, and highlighted the inadequacy of available, affordable child care options. Over the course of her research on work-family intersections, Presser played an instrumental role in establishing the need for better data collection regarding both child care arrangements and the timing of work hours (rather than simply their quantity). While much of the research on economic transformations in the late 20th century focused on

globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

and changes in manufacturing, Presser's work showed that it was local pressures—especially the demands of the 24-hour service economy and the lack of child care options—that often drove families into hard choices. This line of research culminated in her 2003 book, ''Working in a 24/7 Economy: Challenges for American Families'', published by the

Russell Sage Foundation The Russell Sage Foundation is an American non-profit organisation established by Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage, Margaret Olivia Sage in 1907 for “the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States.” It was named after her re ...

, which supported the work. When ''Working in a 24/7 Economy'' was published, it was featured in news reports about the family stress and health impacts of long and irregular work hours, published in the ''New York Times'', the ''Christian Science Monitor'', and ''USA Today''. Publications that reviewed the book include ''Science'' and the ''American Journal of Sociology''.

Selected bibliography

Books

* * *

Journal articles

Harriet B. Presser Award

In 2009, the

established the Harriet B. Presser Award, given biennially for career contributions to the study of gender and demography. The recipients of the award have been: * 2009:

Valerie Kincaid Oppenheimer Valerie may refer to: People *Saint Valerie (disambiguation) *Valerie (given name), feminine Songs * Valerie (Steve Winwood song), 1982, from ''Talking Back to the Night'' * Valerie (Zutons song), 2006, with Amy Winehouse, from ''Tired of Hangin ...

* 2011:

Karen Oppenheim Mason Karen Oppenheim Mason was an American sociologist and demographer. She served as president of the Population Association of America in 1997 and was best known for her research on the relationship between changes in fertility patterns and social ...

* 2013:

Ruth Dixon-Mueller Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, Ark ...

* 2015:

Paula England Paula S. England (born 4 December 1949), is an American sociologist and Dean of Social Science at New York University Abu Dhabi. Her research has focused on gender inequality in the labor market, the family, and sexuality. She has also studied c ...

* 2017:

Frances Goldscheider Frances is an English given name or last name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'the French.' The male version of the name in English is Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "Frenchman", comes from ...

* 2019:

Jennifer Glass Jennifer L. Glass is Centennial Commission Professor of Liberal Arts in Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin. She was previously Professor of Sociology at the University of Southern California, University of Iowa and the University of ...

Population Research Center. "Jennifer Glass wins Harriet Presser Award"
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Presser, Harriet 1936 births 2012 deaths American sociologists American women sociologists Family sociologists American demographers University of Maryland, College Park faculty Columbian College of Arts and Sciences alumni University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science