fullname birth_date image article_title alma_mater
kathleen gerson 06 august 1947 thumb kathleen gerson
 stanford ba , 1969
kathleen gerson

kathleen gerson is an american sociologist .
she is considered as an authority on such subjects as gender equality particularly within relationships and marriages , changing gender roles , family housework patterns , travel patterns , finances and how they affect household formation , and other aspects of changing family life .
her research is often based on qualitative interviews .
she is a tenured professor at new york university .
gerson 's research has studied changing patterns among men and women in the past few decades .
she found that young american men ideally want `` equal relationships '' but that in practice it is often hard to achieve in the real world with `` round-the-clock hours and unpredictable on-call availability . ''
in her 2009 book `` the unfinished revolution '' , she argued that young men and women often planned to marry but were taking their time , and that many found it acceptable to stay unwed if they can not meet their self-imposed high standards for themselves or their partners ; she wrote that young women increasingly would prefer to stay single rather than marry and become the sole household raiser of children .
gerson examined changing patterns among fathers and mothers and housework .
for example , she argued in 1997 that the perception that `` women can do it all '' -- in the sense of having both a career and a family -- that this perception caused problems , since fathers reluctant to pitch in with household chores could use that perception as an excuse for them not to work , and fathers who wanted to help out with housework were often not accepted by society .
she argued that changes in workplace policies affected thinking about gender roles , and that gender boundaries were `` blurring '' .
her examinations of young people who were dating found it less likely that women were seeking men with large `` paychecks '' and men seeking women as `` sex objects '' , but rather that both sexes were `` looking for the whole package '' .
she argued that women who left the workforce did not do so simply to care for children but rather that the motivations were `` much more complicated . ''
her studies detailed numerous stresses on modern marriages , with couples striving to find satisfying relationships while divvying chores in egalitarian ways .
in recent years , as persons age , they will move in and out of `` different types of families '' during their lives , according to her research .
she found that men are less concerned if their girlfriend or wife earns more than they do , and more concerned with longer-term issues such as affording a house .
she said that americans were less likely to spend more time on vacation , compared to europeans , partially because of a culture of `` vacation-shaming '' and not purely economic concerns .
