Villanova University’s 34th Annual Gender and Women’s Studies Conference Welcomes University of Pennsylvania’s Nancy J. Hirschmann, PhD
VILLANOVA, Pa – Questions related to family structures and division of labor often circulate within feminist discourse. How do race, sex and class contribute to our understanding of familial roles and responsibilities?
On Friday, March 22, Nancy J. Hirschmann, PhD, Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought and professor of Political Science and Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), will consider these matters in her keynote address, “The Neoliberal Family and the Traditional Sexual Division of Labor: A Matter of Race, Sex, and Class,” for the 2024 Gender and Women’s Studies Student Research Conference.
Dr. Hirschmann is the former director of Penn’s Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies program and the Alice Paul Center for Research on Gender, Sexuality and Women, where she remains a core faculty member. She has also served as vice chair and graduate chair of Penn’s Department of Political Science. Prior to teaching at Penn, Dr. Hirschmann taught at Swarthmore College, Gettysburg College and spent 12 years in Cornell University’s Department of Government. She has also served as vice president of the American Political Science Association.
Currently, her research is focused on the concept of freedom. Her current book project, Freedom, Power, and Disability, examines the idea of freedom from the perspective of disability. Dr. Hirschmann’s previous books include The Subject of Liberty: Toward a Feminist Theory of Freedom, which won the 2004 Victoria Schuck Award from the American Political Science Association; Gender, Class, and Freedom in Modern Political Theory; and Rethinking Obligation: A Feminist Method for Political Theory.
Dr. Hirschmann’s lecture is part of Villanova’s annual, day-long Gender and Women’s Studies Student Research Conference. The conference highlights and celebrates research examining gender and sexuality produced by students from Villanova and other institutions in the area over the previous year.
The conference, which takes place in the Connolly Center, is free and open to the public, and the schedule is as follows:
8:30 a.m.: Coffee and Registration
9:00-9:20 a.m.: Opening Session
9:30-11:45 a.m.: Panels
12:00-1:30 p.m.: Plenary Session with Keynote by Nancy J. Hirschmann, PhD, and Lunch (pre-register here)
1:45-2:45 p.m.: Panels
3:00 p.m.: Performance Showcase in Connelly Cinema
4:00 pm: Reception with Coffee and Cookies
About Villanova University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: Since its founding in 1842, Villanova University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has been the heart of the Villanova learning experience, offering foundational courses for undergraduate students in every college of the University. Serving more than 4,500 undergraduate and graduate students, the College is committed to fortifying them with intellectual rigor, multidisciplinary knowledge, moral courage and a global perspective. The College has more than 40 academic departments and programs across the humanities, social sciences, and natural and physical sciences.