Professor Leah Ruppanner
Associate Investigator
The University of Melbourne
This regularly held series presents research findings, and provides a forum for discussions on a broad range of topics relating to life course studies.
About this event
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed unparalleled challenges on individuals, families, employers and governments. This talk will cover the most recent insights into how the pandemic has impacted American and Australian parents and provide some clear policy guidance to mitigate the damage for mothers. By providing a comparative view of the impacts, we can better understand how the pandemic has widened gender gaps and the policy solutions to mitigate some of this damage.
About the speakers
Leah Ruppanner is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Co-Director of The Policy Lab at the University of Melbourne and an Associate Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course. Her research investigates gender and its intersection to inequalities, technologies and policies. Associate Professor Ruppanner is a leading expert on COVID-19 and its impact on gender inequality in US and Australia. Her book, Motherlands: How States Push Mothers out of Employment (2020) provides a typology of childcare and gender policies and how their relationship to mothers’ employment varies across US states. This has led to a range of high impact publications showing women have divergent experiences based on their state of residence. Finally, she is leading a project on gender bias in hiring algorithms to understand how gender bias limits women’s access to employment. Ruppanner’s research is published in Demography, Journal of Marriage and Family, Sociological Methods and Research, European Sociological Review and Social Science Research. She has also had expansive media coverage in the New York Times, Washington Post and the Guardian and external grant success including an ARC DECRA, an ARC Discovery on sleep and an ARC Linkage on women in local government.
For further information contact: engagement@lifecoursecentre.org.au