RUSPINI ELISABETTA

Elisabetta Ruspini is full Professor of Sociology at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy. She holds a PhD in Sociology and Social Research from the University of Trento (1997).

Since the start of her academic life she has devoted a considerable amount of time to studying the relationship between gender and social change: women’s poverty and social exclusion, the social construction of gender identities as a dynamic process; the interplay between gender, family formation and parenting roles; the relationship between gender and the generational turnover (particularly Millennials and Gen Zers); the future of gender research. 

She has relevant expertise in Gender Studies (both Women’s Studies and Men and Masculinity Studies), Gender Relations in Society, Sociology of Families, Generational Studies (Millennials and Gen Zers) and LGBT Studies, as wells as in gender-sensitive research and on how to strengthen the gender dimension of both social research and research programs in order to remove gender imbalances. She has functioned as a gender expert and adviser for diverse research stakeholders in Italy and Europe (European Community), and has been actively involved in developing gender-sensitive approaches in Universities and Associations.

She has extensive teaching and research experience on Feminist, Women’s and Gender Studies, Family and Generational issues. She has published a relevant number of books (authored books and edited books/journal issues), articles and contributed papers to several national and international conferences/seminars/workshops in these fields.

2023: Member of the Doctorate college, National Doctoral Program in Gender Studies (DIN Program in Gender Studies): https://www.uniba.it/it/ricerca/dipartimenti/dirium/postlaurea/dottorati/dottorato-in-gender-studies

Since September 2021: Coordinator of ESA RN33 “Women’s and Gender Studies”: https://www.europeansociology.org/research-networks/rn33-womens-and-gender-studies

September 2019-August 2021: Co-coordinator of ESA RN33 “Women’s and Gender Studies”.

She is the National Coordinator of the Scientific Framework Convention ‘Gender and Religion’, Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Milano-Bicocca. The Framework Convention is a confederation of around 30 Universities across Italy and 15 Research Centres/Associations located all over the country which banded together to study the nexus between gender, religion and social change. 

Since October 2018 she is Director of the “Centro Interdipartimentale per gli Studi di Genere-ABCD-Interdepartmental Center for Gender Studies” (14 Departments), University of Milano-Bicocca: http://www.abcd.unimib.it/

She is one of the Founders of the AIS Research Committee ‘Studi di Genere’ (Gender Studies), that she has been coordinating between 2012-2018. The Research Commitee ‘Studi di Genere’ is part of the AIS (Associazione Italiana di Sociologia-Italian Sociological Association): https://www.ais-sociologia.it/sezioni/sg/studi-genere/

Research Interests: Social Change and Social Processes; The Social Construction of Gender; Gender and Generations; Gender Stereotypes and Gender Roles; Women’s Rights and Issues; Feminism and Women's Rights Movements; Gender, Poverty and Social Exclusion; Men and Masculinities; Women, Men and Work Life Balance; New Forms of Parenthood; Lone Motherhood and Lone Fatherhood; Family Change; LGBT Parenting; Sociology of Generations; Gender, Generations and Religion; Generations of Feminism; Gender and Tourism; Tourism and Generational Differences, Future Studies. Within the methodological field: Longitudinal Research; Gender-sensitive Research; Generations Research; How to Engender Longitudinal Research.