Alice S. Rossi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Alice Emma Schaerr (1922-09-24)September 24, 1922 |
| Died | November 3, 2009(2009-11-03) (aged 87) |
| Occupation | Sociologist |
| Spouse | Peter H. Rossi (1951–2006) |
Alice Emma Rossi (née Schaerr; September 24, 1922 – November 3, 2009) was an Americanfeminist andsociologist.
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Her scholarship focused on the status of women at work, in the family, and their sexual life. Her writings helped to build the foundations of the feminist movement. Her early advocacy ofabortion and reproductive rights caused her to gain a lot of national attention. One of her main academic pursuits was the study of people's lifecourse from youth to older age, particularly in the case of women.[1][2][3][4]
One of her most influential feminist articles was “Equality Between the Sexes: An Immodest Proposal.” First presented in 1963 at a meeting of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences, it was published the next year in the academy's journalDaedalus. In the article, Rossi argued that for most women motherhood had become a full-time occupation, a state of affairs that hurt not only women but also the larger society in which they lived. For the well-being of both the women and the culture, she wrote, parity of the sexes is essential.
This article's publication coincided with the publication the same year ofThe Feminine Mystique byBetty Friedan, which dealt with similar issues. Rossi's argument was considered subversive at the time. Her article can be found in the anthology “Life Cycle and Achievement in America” (Harper & Row, 1969), edited byRose Laub Coser.
In later work[which?], also controversial[according to whom?], Professor Rossi argued that the cultural divide between men and women was not the product ofsocialization alone, as the prevailing view held, but was partly rooted in inborn biological differences between the sexes.
Professor Rossi held appointments atHarvard, theUniversity of Chicago,Johns Hopkins University andGoucher College before finally joining theUniversity of Massachusetts faculty, where she was appointed the Harriet Martineau professor of sociology. She remained there from 1974 until her retirement in 1991, at which point she became anemerita professor. She also was the 74th president of theAmerican Sociological Association.[5]
