Freidlander Lecture: Dr Birgit Pfau-Effinger

April 15, 2019

"The Gender Division of Labor: Cultural Influences on Cross-National Differences"

Dr. Pfau-Effinger will discuss the limitations of approaches that explain cross-national differences in women’s and men’s employment and childcare behavior by the “de-familializing” or “familializing” nature of welfare state policies. She will then introduce her own theoretical approach to the explanation of these differences that emphasizes the role of culture and the interrelations acting between cultural, political and socio-economic factors at the macro level of a society in which women’s and men’s care and employment choices are embedded, as well as the importance of the coherence — or incoherence — of this societal context for the explanation of cross-national differences.

BIO: Prof. Dr. Birgit Pfau-Effinger is Research Professor for Cultural and Institutional Change at the University of Hamburg. She was Professor of Social Structure Analysis at the University of Hamburg until 2018, when the President of the University of Hamburg honored her with her current senior research professorship for her outstanding academic achievement. She was founding director and co-director of the Research Centre for Globalization and Governance at the University of Hamburg. Her main fields of research include the role of culture and institutions in the explanation of cross-national differences in welfare state policies, the gender division of labor, the work-family relationship, and the relationship between formal and informal work.

Prior to joining the University of Hamburg, Dr. Pfau-Effinger received her doctoral degree and habilitated at the University of Bremen, and was professor at the Universities of Berlin and Jena, research professor and honorary professor at the University of Southern Denmark, and visiting professor at universities in Barcelona, Spain, Aalborg, Denmark, and Tampere, Finland. Her numerous publications include books and many articles in international journals, such as her article in Work, Employment and Society (WES) that was distinguished by the British Sociological Association, SAGE, and the Editors of WES (2012) as “Favorite WES article of the last 25 years”; her article “Culture and Welfare States” is among the ten most-cited articles in the Journal of Social Policy. The German Research Foundation (DFG) included her in the “Online Portal of Outstanding Women Academics and Scientists” AcademiaNet. She has been awarded grants from the German Research Council and the EU, and participated in the management of several international research programs (such as the ESF Scientific Network GIER, COST A13 Action A13, and the EU Network of Excellence RECWOWE). Her most recent publications include articles in Ageing & Society and theAmerican Behavioral Scientist.