Ann Oakley
Encyclopedia
Ann Oakley is a distinguished British sociologist, feminist, and writer
. She is Professor and Founder-Director of the Social Science Research Unit at the Institute of Education
, University of London
and in 2005 partially retired from full-time academic work to concentrate on her writing and especially new novels. Oakley is the only daughter of Professor Richard Titmuss
and wrote a biography of her parents as well as editing some of his works for recent re-publication. Her mother Kathleen, née Miller, was a social worker.
She was educated at Somerville College, Oxford University
taking her BA in 1965, having married fellow future academic Robin Oakley the previous year. In the next few years Oakley wrote scripts for children's television and wrote numerous short stories and had two novels rejected by publishers. Returning to formal education at Bedford College, University of London, she gained a PhD in 1969; the qualification was a study of women's attitudes to housework, from which several of her early books were ultimately derived. Much of her sociological research focused on medical sociology
and women's health
. She has also made important contributions to debates about sociological research methods.
Ann Oakley has written numerous academic works, many focusing on the lives and roles of women in society as well as several best-selling novels, of which the best-known is probably The Men's Room, which was adapted by Laura Lamson
for BBC
television in 1991, and which starred Harriet Walter
and Bill Nighy
. She has also written an early partial autobiography. She divides her life between living in London and in a rural house where she does most of her fiction writing. She is a mother and grandmother.
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
. She is Professor and Founder-Director of the Social Science Research Unit at the Institute of Education
Institute of Education
The Institute of Education is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom specialised in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It is the largest education research body in the United Kingdom, with...
, University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
and in 2005 partially retired from full-time academic work to concentrate on her writing and especially new novels. Oakley is the only daughter of Professor Richard Titmuss
Richard Titmuss
Richard Morris Titmuss was a pioneering British social researcher and teacher. He founded the academic discipline of Social Administration and held the founding chair in the subject at the London School of Economics.His books and articles of the 1950s helped to define the characteristics of...
and wrote a biography of her parents as well as editing some of his works for recent re-publication. Her mother Kathleen, née Miller, was a social worker.
She was educated at Somerville College, Oxford University
Somerville College, Oxford
Somerville College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and was one of the first women's colleges to be founded there...
taking her BA in 1965, having married fellow future academic Robin Oakley the previous year. In the next few years Oakley wrote scripts for children's television and wrote numerous short stories and had two novels rejected by publishers. Returning to formal education at Bedford College, University of London, she gained a PhD in 1969; the qualification was a study of women's attitudes to housework, from which several of her early books were ultimately derived. Much of her sociological research focused on medical sociology
Medical sociology
Medical sociology is the sociological analysis of medical organizations and institutions; the production of knowledges and selection of methods, the actions and interactions of healthcare professionals, and the social or cultural effects of medical practice...
and women's health
Women's health
Women's health refers to health issues specific to human female anatomy. These often relate to structures such as female genitalia and breasts or to conditions caused by hormones specific to, or most notable in, females. Women's health issues include menstruation, contraception, maternal health,...
. She has also made important contributions to debates about sociological research methods.
Ann Oakley has written numerous academic works, many focusing on the lives and roles of women in society as well as several best-selling novels, of which the best-known is probably The Men's Room, which was adapted by Laura Lamson
Laura Lamson
Laura Lamson was an American screenwriter and university lecturer who was based in England throughout her career. Her most successful work was her adaptation of The Men's Room for the BBC.-Biography:...
for BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television in 1991, and which starred Harriet Walter
Harriet Walter
Dame Harriet Mary Walter, DBE is a British actress.-Personal life:She is the niece of renowned British actor Sir Christopher Lee, as the daughter of his elder sister Xandra Lee. On her father's side she is a great-great-great-granddaughter of John Walter, founder of The TimesShe was educated at...
and Bill Nighy
Bill Nighy
William Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womanizer Prof...
. She has also written an early partial autobiography. She divides her life between living in London and in a rural house where she does most of her fiction writing. She is a mother and grandmother.
Non-Fiction
- (1972) Sex, Gender and Society. London: Temple Smith. Reprinted with new Introduction, London: Gower, 1985.
- (1974) Housewife. London: Allen Lane.
- (1974) The Sociology of Housework. London: Martin Robertson. Reprinted with new Introduction. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1985 (also translated into German, Dutch and Japanese).
- (1976) Woman's Work: The Housewife, Past and Present. New York: Random House. (Re-titled version of Housewife - 1974)
- (1979) Becoming a Mother. Oxford: Martin Robertson. (Under the title From Here to Maternity. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1981. Reprinted with new Introduction, 1986.)
- (1980) Women Confined: Towards a sociology of childbirth. Oxford: Martin Robertson.
- (1981) Subject Women. Oxford: Martin Robertson.
- (1984) The Captured Womb: A history of the medical care of pregnant women. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
- (1984) Taking it Like a Woman. London: Jonathan Cape. (Paperback published Fontana 1985; also published by Random House, New York).
- (1986) Telling the Truth about Jerusalem: Selected essays. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
- (1986) The rights and Wrongs of women (Selected essays edited with Juliet MitchellJuliet MitchellJuliet Mitchell is a British Psychoanalyst and socialist feminist, who was a fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge and Professor of Psychoanalysis and Gender Studies at Cambridge University. In 2010, she's appointed to be the Director of the Expanded Doctoral School in Psychoanalytic Studies at...
). - (1986) What is Feminism? (Selected essays edited with Juliet MitchellJuliet MitchellJuliet Mitchell is a British Psychoanalyst and socialist feminist, who was a fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge and Professor of Psychoanalysis and Gender Studies at Cambridge University. In 2010, she's appointed to be the Director of the Expanded Doctoral School in Psychoanalytic Studies at...
). - (1992) Social Support and Motherhood: The natural history of a research project. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
- (1993) Essays on Women, Medicine and Health. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
- (1996) Man and Wife: Richard and Kay Titmuss, my parents' early years. London: HarperCollins.
- (1997) Who's Afraid of Feminism? London: Hamish Hamilton. (New York: The New Press.) (edited with Juliet MitchellJuliet MitchellJuliet Mitchell is a British Psychoanalyst and socialist feminist, who was a fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge and Professor of Psychoanalysis and Gender Studies at Cambridge University. In 2010, she's appointed to be the Director of the Expanded Doctoral School in Psychoanalytic Studies at...
). - (1997) The Gift Relationship: From human blood to social policy. By Richard M Titmuss. London: LSE Books. (New York: The New Press.) (edited with John Ashton).
- (2000) Experiments in Knowing: Gender and method in the social sciences. Cambridge: Polity Press. (New York: The New Press.)
- (2001) Welfare & Wellbeing: Richard Titmuss's contribution to Social Policy, (edited with Peter Alcock, Howard Glennerster & Adrian Sinfield), Bristol: Policy Press.
- (2002) Gender on Planet Earth. Cambridge: Polity Press (New York: The New Press, 2003).
- (2004) Private Complaints & Public Health: Richard Titmuss on the National Health Service, (edited, with Jonathan Barker), Bristol: Policy Press.
- (2007) Fracture: Adventures of a broken body, Bristol: Policy Press.
Fiction
- (1989) The Men’s Room. London: Virago. (HarperCollins paperback 1989; New York: Atheneum, 1989.) (televised)
- (1990) (under the nom de plume Rosamund Clay) Only Angels Forget. London: Virago.
- (1991) Matilda’s Mistake. London: Virago (HarperCollins paperback, 1991).
- (1992) The Secret Lives of Eleanor Jenkinson. London: HarperCollins.
- (1993) Scenes Originating in the Garden of Eden. London: HarperCollins.
- (1995) Where the bee sucks, in: (eds) Jones RG, Williams AS. The Penguin Book of Erotic Stories by Women. London: Penguin Books, pp. 384–397.
- (1995) Death in the egg, in: (eds) Williams AS, Jones RG. The Penguin Book of Modern Fantasy by Women. London: Penguin Books, pp. 525–532.
- (1996) A Proper Holiday. London: HarperCollins.
- (1999) Overheads. London: HarperCollins.