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Strober, Myra H

Myra Strober is Professor of Education, Emerita at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and Professor of Economics (by courtesy) at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Her research and consulting focus on gender issues in the workplace, the economics of work and family, and multidisciplinarity in higher education. Her two-part interview begins with her early years in Brooklyn, New York, where her interest in economics formed. Strober recalls her undergraduate education at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, her master’s program at Tufts University, and her doctoral studies at MIT, where she was one of only two women in her class. She relates how she eventually made her way to California, teaching as a lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley before taking an assistant professorship at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Strober discusses her initial experiences teaching on the virtually all-male faculty at the Business School, her attempt to secure tenure there, and how she became a tenured faculty member at the School of Education. She recounts the events that led to the creation of the Center for Research on Women at the university and how she became its founding director. She discusses fundraising for the center and the lecture series that attracted overflowing crowds from the campus and neighboring areas. In addition, she discusses her service on the Committee on Recruitment and Retention of Women Faculty at Stanford and her experience as a sexual harassment advisor counselling female faculty members. She shares her perspectives on the challenges facing women in academia, such as a low percentage of women on the tenured faculty, salary disparity, and a lack of support. Strober also relates the story of how Stanford successfully competed to host and edit the preeminent women’s studies journal, Signs and its impact on the faculty and students involved. She discusses her research on occupational segregation, including her theory of how the relative attractiveness of occupations impacted work opportunities for women, and her research on childcare. Strober concludes with an assessment of some of the ways Stanford has changed over time.

Sharing the work : what my family and career taught me about breaking through (and holding the door open for others)

The tumultuous life and career of a woman who fought gender bias on multiple fronts-in theory and in practice, for herself and for us all. "Myra Strober's Sharing the Work is the memoir of a woman who has learned that 'having it all' is only possible by 'sharing it all, ' from finding a partner who values your work as much as you do, to fighting for family-friendly policies. You will learn that finding allies is crucial, blending families after divorce is possible, and that there is neither a good time nor a bad time to have children. Both women and men will find a friend in these pages." -Gloria Steinem Myra Strober became a feminist on the Bay Bridge, heading toward San Francisco. It is 1970. She has just been told by the chairman of Berkeley's economics department that she can never get tenure. Driving home afterward, wondering if she got something out of the freezer for her family's dinner, she realizes the truth: she is being denied a regular faculty position because she is a mother. Flooded with anger, she also finds her life's work: to study and fight sexism, in the workplace, in academia, and at home. Strober's generous memoir captures the spirit of a revolution lived fully, from her Brooklyn childhood (and her shock at age twelve when she's banished to the women's balcony at shul) to her groundbreaking Stanford seminar on women and work. Strober's interest in women and work began when she saw her mother's frustration at the limitations of her position as a secretary. Her consciousness of the unfairness of the usual distribution of household chores came when she unsuccessfully asked her husband for help with housework. Later, when a group of conservative white male professors sputtered at the idea of government-subsidized child care, Strober made the case for its economic benefits. In the 1970s, the term "sexual harassment" had not yet been coined. Occupational segregation, quantifying the value of work in the home, and the cost of discrimination were new ideas. Strober was a pioneer, helping to create a new academic field and founding institutions to establish it. But she wasn't alone: she benefited from the women's movement, institutional change, and new federal regulations that banned sex discrimination. She continues the work today and invites us to join her.

Sharing the work : what my family and career taught me about breaking through (and holding the door open for others)

The tumultuous life and career of a woman who fought gender bias on multiple fronts-in theory and in practice, for herself and for us all. "Myra Strober's Sharing the Work is the memoir of a woman who has learned that 'having it all' is only possible by 'sharing it all, ' from finding a partner who values your work as much as you do, to fighting for family-friendly policies. You will learn that finding allies is crucial, blending families after divorce is possible, and that there is neither a good time nor a bad time to have children. Both women and men will find a friend in these pages." -Gloria Steinem Myra Strober became a feminist on the Bay Bridge, heading toward San Francisco. It is 1970. She has just been told by the chairman of Berkeley's economics department that she can never get tenure. Driving home afterward, wondering if she got something out of the freezer for her family's dinner, she realizes the truth: she is being denied a regular faculty position because she is a mother. Flooded with anger, she also finds her life's work: to study and fight sexism, in the workplace, in academia, and at home. Strober's generous memoir captures the spirit of a revolution lived fully, from her Brooklyn childhood (and her shock at age twelve when she's banished to the women's balcony at shul) to her groundbreaking Stanford seminar on women and work. Strober's interest in women and work began when she saw her mother's frustration at the limitations of her position as a secretary. Her consciousness of the unfairness of the usual distribution of household chores came when she unsuccessfully asked her husband for help with housework. Later, when a group of conservative white male professors sputtered at the idea of government-subsidized child care, Strober made the case for its economic benefits. In the 1970s, the term "sexual harassment" had not yet been coined. Occupational segregation, quantifying the value of work in the home, and the cost of discrimination were new ideas. Strober was a pioneer, helping to create a new academic field and founding institutions to establish it. But she wasn't alone: she benefited from the women's movement, institutional change, and new federal regulations that banned sex discrimination. She continues the work today and invites us to join her.

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