Barbara Katz Rothman facts for kids

Barbara Katz Rothman (born in 1948) is an American sociologist. A sociologist studies how people live together in groups, how societies work, and how they change. She is a professor of sociology and women's studies at the City University of New York (CUNY). Her work covers many interesting topics. These include how healthcare affects people, childbirth, important questions about science and life (called bioethics), and how our ideas about race, disability, and even food are shaped by society.

Biography

Barbara Katz Rothman was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1948. She went to Brooklyn College for her first two degrees. In 1979, she earned her Ph.D. in sociology from New York University. That same year, she became a teacher at Baruch College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Early Research

She was one of the first sociologists to seriously study childbirth. This led to her first book, In Labor. She then looked into issues with prenatal diagnosis. This means tests done during pregnancy, like amniocentesis, to check on the baby's health. She studied how these new technologies affected pregnant women. Her research on this topic resulted in her book The Tentative Pregnancy.

Important Cases and Books

In 1987, she joined other important feminists, like Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan. They wrote a special legal document called an amicus brief for the Baby M case. This case was about surrogacy, where one woman carries a baby for another couple. The brief argued that allowing women to be paid for carrying a child could lead to them being treated unfairly. The Baby M case was a big step in reproductive technology. It inspired Barbara Katz Rothman's book, Recreating Motherhood: Ideology and Technology in a Patriarchical Society, published in 1989.

In this book, she talks about the social, political, and technological effects of having and raising a child. She discusses the legal rights of birth mothers and childcare providers. She also suggests changes in how we think about reproduction to better reflect women's experiences. In 1991, she received the Jessie Bernard Award for Recreating Motherhood.

Leadership and Awards

Barbara Katz Rothman has held many important leadership roles. In 1993, she was president of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. This group gave her the Lee Founders Award in 2006 and the Mentoring Award in 2019. In 1995, she was a Fulbright Professor at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

In 1998, she was president of the Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS). She also won their Mentoring Award in 1995 and the SWS Feminist Lecturer Award in 1988. In 2012, she received an award called "Midwifing the Movement" from the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA). She was also the president of the Eastern Sociological Society for the 2016 term. From 2018 to 2019, she was a Fulbright-Saastamoinen Foundation Distinguished Chair in Health Sciences.

Books

Barbara Katz Rothman has written or edited many books. Here are some of them: