Myra Marx Ferree is a professor of sociology

Sociology

Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

 and director of the Center for German and European Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison

University of Wisconsin–Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...

, where she is also a member of the Women’s Studies Program. In 2005 she was a Berlin Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin

American Academy in Berlin

The American Academy in Berlin is a research and cultural institution in Berlin whose stated mission is to foster a greater understanding and dialogue between the people of the United States and the people of Germany.The American Academy was founded in September 1994 by a group of prominent...

 and in 2004 the Maria-Jahoda Visiting Professor at the Ruhr University Bochum. She has written numerous articles about feminist organizations and politics in the US, Germany and internationally, as well as about gender inequality

Gender inequality

Gender inequality refers to disparity between individuals due to gender. Gender is constructed both socially through social interactions as well as biologically through chromosomes, brain structure, and hormonal differences. Gender systems are often dichotomous and hierarchical; binary gender...

 in families, the inclusion of gender in sociological theory

Sociological theory

In sociology, sociological perspectives, theories, or paradigms are complex theoretical and methodological frameworks used to analyze and explain objects of social study. They facilitate organizing sociological knowledge...

 and practice, and the intersections of gender

Gender

Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...

 with race and class

Social class

Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...

. She has been the recipient of the Jessie Bernard

Jessie Bernard

Jessie Shirley Bernard was a sociologist and noted feminist scholar. She was a persistent forerunner of feminist thought in American sociology and her life's work is characterized as extraordinarly productive spanning several intellectual and political eras...

 Award (sociology’s highest honor for work in gender), vice-president of the American Sociological Association

American Sociological Association

The American Sociological Association , founded in 1905 as the American Sociological Society , is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology by serving sociologists in their work and promoting their contributions to serve society.The ASA holds its...

 and deputy editor of its leading journal, American Sociological Review

American Sociological Review

The American Sociological Review is a bimonthly, peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of sociology, including new theoretical developments, results of research that advance the understanding of fundamental social processes, and methodological innovations. It is published by SAGE...

, president of Sociologists for Women in Society

Sociologists for Women in Society

Sociologists for Women in Society is an international organization of social scientists--students, faculty, practitioners, and researchers--working together to improve the position of women within sociology and society in general.- History :...

 and recipient of its mentoring and feminist scholarship awards. Her current work focuses on comparisons between US and German feminist movements and gender policy developments since the 1960s as well as the development of feminist identities in transnational women’s organizations.

Works (selection)

• Global Feminism: Transnational Women's Activism, Organizing, and Human Rights, New York : New York University Press, 2006 (eds. with Aili Mari Tripp
• Shaping Abortion Discourse: Democracy and the Public Sphere in Germany and the United States, Cambridge University Press, 2001 (eds. with William Anthony Gamson
  William A. Gamson
  William Anthony Gamson is a professor of Sociology at Boston College, where he is also the co-director of the Media Research and Action Project ....
  
  , Jürgen Gerhards, and Dieter Rucht)
• Controversy and Coalition: The New Feminist Movement Across Four Decades of Change, Routledge Press, 1995 (with Beth Hess)
• Revisioning Gender, Alta Mira Press, 1998 (eds. with Judith Lorber and Beth Hess)
• Feminist Organizations: Harvest of the New Women's Movement, Temple University Press, 1995 (eds. with Patricia Yancey Martin)

External links

• Myra Marx Ferree at University of Wisconsin–Madison, Department of Sociology