The Univerity of Houston Launches New Women’s Studies Research Institute

The University of Houston has launched a new think tank focused on examining how gender and sexuality impact all aspects of life in Houston and Harris County. The Institute for Research on Women, Gender & Sexuality will focus on issues including workforce, health, family and relationships, social dynamics, leadership, and equity.

The new institute will unite two dozen faculty experts from across disciplines to gather data, generate innovative research along with meaningful community dialogue work to engage partners across the business, nonprofit and civic sectors to identify challenges and develop solutions to issues involving gender and sexuality in the community.

Elizabeth Gregory, professor of English and director of the Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies program, will be the director of the new institute. “Historically, gender has served as a work-assignment system, defining what kinds of jobs people are allowed to do (at home and outside it) and setting their pay scales,” Professor Gregory explains. “Gender is not about how sexy you are, but how you interact with the economy. But society and technology have evolved, women have entered all employment sectors, men do care work, and sexuality is being redefined. There’s much systemic analysis and restructuring needed to support these shifts.”

Professor Gregory is the author of Ready: Why Women Are Embracing the New Later Motherhood (Basic Books, 2007). She is a graduate of Barnard College in New York City, where she majored in English literature. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Kentucky and a Ph.D. from Yale University.