Most recent publications:
Fighting for Time: Shifting Boundaries of Work and Social Life. (edited with Arne Kalleberg) N.Y. Russell Sage Foundation. 2004
“Great Divides: The Cultural, Cognitive and Social Bases of the Global Subordination of Women. 2007. American Sociological Review. February (forthcoming)
“Asking Questions: Preserving Irony.” 2005. in Richard Couto. Ed. Courses in Courage. Antioch College and the Social Sciences. Philadelphia: Xlibris Corporation. 67-78.
“Border Crossings: The Constraints of Time Norms in Transgressions of Gender and Professional Roles.” 2004, In C.F. Epstein and Arne Kalleberg, eds. Fighting for Time: Shifting Boundaries of Work and Social Life. N.Y.: Russell Sage.
“Decoding Dichotomies, Pushing the Boundaries: A Lifetime of Research on Women in the Professions.” 2003. (in Barry Glassner and Rosanna Herz, eds. Our Studies,Ourselves. Oxford University Press.
“Wives and Husbands Working Together: Law Partners and Marital Partners.” 2002 in Marilyn Yalom and Laura L. Carstensen, eds. Inside the American Couple: New Thinking/ New Challenges. Berkeley: University of California Press.136-148.
“Stricture and Structure: The Social and Cultural Context of Pro Bono Work in Wall Street Firms.” 2002. Fordham Law Review. LXX:5. April. 1689-1698.
*Recent Publications from web.gc.cuny.edu
Principal Research:
“The Impact of Law School on Legal Careers in the Public Interest. (Grant from the Atlantic Philanthropies.$438,000) 2000-2004.
“Legal Services for the Poor: Changing Concepts, Changing Environment: A Study of the Legal Aid Society of New York.PSC-Cuny Grant. 1999-2000.
"Workplace Alternatives: A Study of Flexible and Part-time Work in the Legal Profession" Grant from the Alfred Sloan Foundation, 1995-97
The Advancement of Women in the Legal Profession, Grant from The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, 1992-5
Women in Law: Ten Years Later, Grant from PSC-CUNY, 1989-92
Culture of the Workplace, grant from The Russell Sage Foundation, 1982-1988; 1988- 1991.
Gender and Institutions, grant from The Russell Sage Foundation, 1982‑1990
Changing Role of Women in Music, Research Foundation of the City University of New York, 1982‑84
Women lawyers and the Changing Context of the Legal Profession, Center for the Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, 1977‑78
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation grant, 1976‑77 National Institute of Mental Health Spencer Foundation Rockefeller Foundation
Women in Decision‑making Positions in Cross‑national Perspectives, Ford Foundation grant, 1975‑77 Research Foundation of the City of New York grant, 1975‑76
Changing Economic and Social Roles of Women, Institute of Life Insurance grant, 1974
Project Director, Study of Black Women in Elite Occupations, U.S. Department of Labor Manpower Administration grant
Research Foundation of the City of New York grant, 1969‑74
Senior Research Associate, Bureau of Applied Social Research, Columbia University, "Women in Professions, and in the Legal Profession," Institute of Life Insurance grant,
The Graduate Faculties of Columbia University grant, National Institutes of Health grant, Manpower Administration, U.S. Department of Labor grant, 1965-1968
*Principal Research from Dr. Epstein’s C.V.
Major Works:
Woman's Place: Options and Limits in Professional Careers, University of California Press, 1970.
The Other Half: Roads to Women's Equality, Prentice-Hall, 1971. (Editor with William J. Goode)
Access to Power: Cross National Studies of Women and Elites, Allen & Unwin, 1981. (Editor with Rose Laub Coser)
Women in Law, Basic Books, 1981.
Deceptive Distinctions: Sex, Gender, and the Social Order, Russell Sage Foundation, 1988.
Women in Law, University of Illinois Press, 2nd ed., 1993.
*Major Works from Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2002.
Review of Dr. Epstein’s Work:
1. Woman's Place: Options and Limits in Professional Careers (1970)
“It has been charged that American society pays a high price for ‘keeping women down,’ yet it cannot be shown that a conspiracy or a grand design exists to keep them down. More important, there seems to be little awareness that they are not permitted to rise in society as individuals. Why women typically do not fulfill their promise--especially when that promise has been made explicit by liberal tradition and education-- remains a question unanswered and rarely even asked” (Epstein 1970: 2)
In Woman’s Place: Options and Limits in Professional Careers, Dr. Epstein argues that “despite the struggle for equal participation with men in all social and economic spheres, most American women have not adequately exploited their rights and talents” (Eric.ed.gov). Dr. Epstein begins this argument through a survey on the cultural themes and values that directly affect the decisions women make in regards to their careers. Dr. Epstein specifically focuses upon the process of socialization because this process is how individuals come to their own identity and develop a sense of personal limits and options. Dr. Epstein then identifies six major categories of role conflict, “each deriving from the ambiguities and contradictions associated with being both a female and a professional” (Eric.ed.gov). Dr. Epstein then explores both the paths and the obstacles in reconciling the six major categories of role conflict. Dr. Epstein lastly explores different professions, such as law and medicine, and examines these professions “in terms of how women's participation is shaped by structural factors, behavioral norms, and tendencies toward change in each field” (Eric.ed.gov). One reviewer on Woman’s Place: Options and Limits in Professional Careers states that “a little torn between objectivity and subjectivity, she is often repetitious, and does not always manage to evade those strident overtones Trollope referred to long ago. It is a pity that those who will read this book probably understand already, and that those who don’t probably will not read it” (Firth 1970: 739).
Information from:
Epstein, Cynthia Fuchs. 1970. Woman's Place: Options and Limits in Professional Careers. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Firth, Rosemary. 1970. “Reviewed Work(s): Woman’s Place: Options and Limits in Professional Careers by Cynthia Fuchs Epstein. Man, New Series 5:4 Pp. 738-739. Available: JStor. Retrieved: February 15, 2007
“In the past, many employers did not want women in their offices – period. Women made them uncomfortable, some employers felt that women lawyers would cost them clients and money…Law firms also thought women would not be competent to handle the rough and tumble of negotiation or to participate in the ‘old boy’ camaraderie between lawyer and client” (Epstein 1993: 105).
According to Jane Leserman of Simmons College, “Over a decade of data collection provides the foundation for Epstein’s thorough and informative study documenting changes in the experience of women lawyaers from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s” (Leserman 1982: 622). Dr. Epstein conducted extensive interviews of women lawyers throughout the 1960s and 1970s in an attempt to provide a detailed description of women lawyers’ experience in the legal profession. In Women in Law, Dr. Epstein documents how between 1965 and 1980, the number of women attending law school increased from 4 percent to 33 percent. On top of this, Dr. Epstein also explores the change of women’s experience in law school, as well as “in practices with the government, small private companies, large corporate firms, and the judiciary” (Leserman 1982: 622). Throughout this book, Dr. Epstein acknowledges that “sex discrimination in law today, as in other professions, remains, although at a more covert and subtle level, making it more difficult to pin down and eliminate” (Leserman 1982: 622). One of Leserman’s biggest concerns with Dr. Epstein’s work is the de-emphasis on her methodology. According to Leserman, “Epstein explains her methodology at the end of her book in an appendix, as if it were a footnote rather than the foundation for her conclusions” (Leserman 1982: 623). Furthermore, Dr. Epstein also de-emphasizes the fact that many women choose to go into public interest law. Leserman argues that “Epstein seems to applaud some women’s ambition and interest in money and their distaste for legal aid work for indigents, since these concerns mirror those of their male counterparts, but her concern for sexual equality seems to blind her to the possibility that women may have an important role in bringing some social conscience to law” (Leserman 1982: 623). According to Betty Friedan, Dr. Epstein’s work is "An insightful and provocative study of the paradoxes women face as they live the realities beyond the new mystique of a high-powered career” (Press.uillinois.edu). The Los Angeles Times also commented on Women in Law stating that this is "an important work, not just because of what is revealed about women in law but also because of what is revealed about men who have long dominated the legal professions” (Press.uillinois.edu).
Information from:
Epstein, Cynthia Fuchs. 1993. Women in Law: Second Edition. Illinois: University of Illinois Press.
Leserman, Jane. 1982. “Reviewed Work(s): Women in Law, by Cynthia Fuchs Epstein.” Social Forces 61:2 Pp. 622-624. Available: JStor. Retrieved: February 15, 2007.
3. Deceptive Distinctions: Sex, Gender and the Social Order (1988)
“Research on gender over the past fifteen years has been oriented toward rectifying the exclusion or misrepresentation of women as subjects in previous research. Much past research that claimed to be valid for all people was conceived and executed from an androcentric perspective and must therefore be reconsidered. Sociology, like political science, economics, philosophy, and psychology, has been blind or biased in its vision of women for decades. The roles of women were neglected or misrepresented in all these disciplines” (Epstein 1988: 1).
In Deceptive Distinctions: Sex, Gender and the Social Order Dr. Epstein provides an overview of American scholarship pertaining to sex and gender up through 1985. Dr. Epstein organizes this analysis through nine different chapters that are on everyday life, politics, family, economic life, social control, gender and the social structure, sociobiology, socio-psychological theories on gender, and finally, research methods. According to Sara Delamont from the University of Wales College of Cardiff, “there are no chapters on health or education, and sexuality is not treated as problematic. The lack of discussion on three topics where feminist perspectives have been particularly vibrant is odd” (Delamont 1991: 154). Throughout this book, Dr. Epstein argues that there is both “horizontal and vertical segregation by sex in the labor market, and suggests that sociologists have offered three main types of explanation for this: socialization, human capital and social structural” (Delamont 1991: 154). Through her exploration on these topics, Dr. Epstein then concludes that “the sexual segregation of the labor market is due to public policy, family pressures, employer discrimination and women’s choices, but that the period since 1965 has seen women moving into traditionally male domains. Once women are allowed to demonstrate competence she claims, they will become acceptable” (Delamont 1991: 154). Sara Delamont is particularly critical of this work by stating that “Epstein has not moved theoretically since she published A Woman’s Place in 1970, and so the main value of this book is its empirical coverage, not its insight or challenge to the taken-for-granted” (Delamont 1991: 155).
Information from:
Epstein, Cynthia Fuchs. 1988. Deceptive Distinctions: Sex, Gender and the Social Order. Connecticut: The Russell Sage Foundation
Delamont, Sara. 1991. “Reviewed Work(s): Deceptive Distinctions: Sex, Gender and the Social Order by Cynthia Fuchs Epstein.” The British Journal of Sociology 42:1 Pp. 154-155. Available: JStor. Retrieved: February 15, 2007.
