简介

Maria Charles (Ph.D. Stanford University) is Professor and Chair of the Sociology Department, Area Director for Sex and Gender research at the Broom Center for Demography and Afflilated Professor of Feminist Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is an elected member of the Sociological Research Association and member of diverse editorial boards, including American Sociological Review (2011-14), Research in Social Stratification and Mobility (2010-present), American Journal of Sociology (2008-10), and Contemporary Sociology (2006-08). Professor Charles specializes in the international comparative study of social inequalities, with particular attention to cross-national differences in women's economic, educational, and family roles. She has published extensively on the phenomenon of gender segregation, most recently on the ideological and organizational factors that contribute to woman's underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics ("STEM") fields around the world. Her book, Occupational Ghettos: The Worldwide Segregation of Women and Men (Stanford University Press, coauthored with David Grusky) received the Max Weber Award for Distinguished Scholarship in 2005. Her article "Indulging our Gendered Selves? Sex Segregation by Field of Study in 44 Countries" (American Journal of Sociology, coauthored with Karen Bradley), received the 2011 Distinguished Article Award from the American Sociological Association's Sex and Gender Section. Before arriving at UCSB, Professor Charles served on the Sociology faculty at UC San Diego (1994-2008), and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (1991-1994). She received a Ph.D. in Sociology from Stanford University, and Bachelor’s degrees from UCSB in Environmental Studies and Political Science.