Alice S. Rossi Quotes

Alice S. Rossi was a pioneering feminist and sociologist. Alice Emma Schaerr was born on September 24, 1922 in in Brooklyn, New York. Rossi's 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 of abortion and reproductive rights caused her to gain a lot of national attention. In 1966, Rossi, along with a group that included Betty Friedan, founded the National Organization for Women. In later work, also controversial, Professor Rossi argued that the cultural divide between men and women was not the product of socialization alone, as the prevailing view held, but was partly rooted in inborn biological differences between the sexes. Professor Rossi held appointments at Harvard, the University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins University and Goucher College before finally joining the University 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 an emerita professor. She also was the 74th president of the American Sociological Association.