Paula S. England (born 4 December 1949),[1] 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 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 1972, and a PhD in 1975, also from the University of Chicago.[2]
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.[4][5][6] 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.[7] She also showed that when occupations feminize, their pay goes down.[8]
England has also studied how gender norms structure the college hookup culture, which features nonrelational sex.[9][10]
England, Paula (1993). "The separative self: androcentric bias in neoclassical assumptions". In Nelson, Julie A.; Ferber, Marianne (eds.). Beyond economic man feminist theory and economics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 37–53. ISBN978-0-226-24208-8.
England, Paula; Budig, Michelle J. (1998). "Gary Becker on the family: his genius, impact, and blind spots". In Clawson, Dan (ed.). Required reading: sociology's most influential books. Amherst, Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press. pp. 99–111. ISBN978-1-55849-153-3.
England, Paula (2003). "Separative and soluble selves: dichotomous thinking in economics". In Nelson, Julie A.; Ferber, Marianne (eds.). Feminist economics today: beyond economic man. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 33–59. ISBN978-0-226-24207-1.
England, Paula (2006). "Toward gender equality: progress and bottlenecks". In Blau, Francine D.; Brinton, Mary C.; Grusky, David B. (eds.). The declining significance of gender?. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. pp. 245–264. ISBN978-0-87154-370-7.
England, Paula (Summer 1982). "The failure of human capital theory to explain occupational sex segregation". Journal of Human Resources. 17 (3): 358–370. doi:10.2307/145585. JSTOR145585.
England, Paula (March 1984). "Wage appreciation and depreciation: a test of neoclassical economic explanations of occupational sex segregation". Social Forces. 62 (3): 726–749. doi:10.1093/sf/62.3.726.
England, Paula (Summer 1985). "Occupational segregation: rejoinder to Polachek". Journal of Human Resources. 20 (3): 441–443. doi:10.2307/145893. JSTOR145893.
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. 53 (4): 544–558. doi:10.2307/2095848. JSTOR2095848.
England, Paula (March 1989). "A feminist critique of rational-choice theories: implications for sociology". The American Sociologist. 20 (1): 14–28. doi:10.1007/BF02697784. JSTOR27698446. S2CID143743641.
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. 100 (3): 689–719. doi:10.1086/230578. S2CID145799264.
^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. 100 (3): 689–719. doi:10.1086/230578. S2CID145799264.
^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. 53 (4): 544–558. doi:10.2307/2095848. JSTOR2095848.