Selection Criteria
The Jessie Bernard Award is given in recognition of scholarly work inclusive of research (empirical, theoretical, and/or methodological), teaching, mentorship, community-building, and/or service that has enlarged the horizons of sociology to encompass fully the role of women in society. It is presented for significant cumulative work done throughout a professional career that demonstrates broad feminist impact. The award is open to people of all genders and is not restricted to sociologists.
Nomination Procedures
Nominations for career achievement must include a narrative letter of nomination, a copy of the vita of the nominee, and three letters of recommendation (no more than three letters will be accepted, letters can be co-authored, and all letters must be signed and on letterhead).
In addition to the nomination materials described above, complete and submit the required nomination form.
Nominations can be considered for five years, they they are not automatically renewed. Each year, nominators will be asked if they wish to renew their nominations for consideration. If a renewal is requested, nominators will be invited to submit updated information or additional materials and are required to respond again to the ethics question.
Self-nominations are encouraged. All awardees must be current ASA members at the time of the award ceremony at the Annual Meeting. One need not be a member to be nominated for an award. All nominators must be current members. Please also be aware of ASA’s ethics disclosure and award revocation policies.
Submit nominations for the 2025 award to [email protected] by January 1, 2025.
2025 Selection Committee Members
The selection committee is composed of nine members, each serving a staggered three-year term. Members are appointed from among the Association membership by the Council based on the recommendation of the Committee on Committees.
Jennifer Randles, Chair
Tristan Bridges
Shantel Gabrieal Buggs
Arielle Kuperberg
Elena Shih
Paige L. Sweet
LaTonya Trotter
Lindsey Wilkinson
Hajar Yazdiha
Past Recipients
2024 Cecilia Menjívar
2023 Raka Ray
2022 Marlese Durr
2021 Jyoti Puri
2020 Jennifer Glass
2019 Rhacel Salazar Parreñas
2019 Bandana Purkayastha
2018 No award presented
2017 Raewyn Connell
2016 Ronnie J. Steinberg
2015 Nancy A. Naples
2014 Esther Ngan-ling Chow
2014 Christine L. Williams
2013 Kathleen Gerson
2012 Michael A. Messner
2011 Verta Taylor
2010 Harriet Presser
2009 Cecilia Ridgeway
2008 Arlie Hochschild
2007 Patricia Yancey Martin
2006 Margaret Andersen
2005 Evelyn Nakano Glenn
2004 Myra Marx Ferree
2003 Cynthia Fuchs Epstein
2002 Barrie Thorne
2001 Barbara Laslett
2000 Maxine Baca Zinn
1999 Paula England
1998 Ruth A. Wallace
1997 Nona Glazer, career; Robbie Pfeufer Kahn, Bearing Meaning: The Language of Birth (University of Illinois Press, 1995); Honorable Mention: Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, Gendered Transitions: Mexican Experiences of Immigration (University of California Press, 1994)
1996 Judith Lorber, career; Diane L. Wolf, Factory Daughters (University of California Press, 1992)
1995 Arlene Kaplan Daniels, career; Ruth Frankenberg, White Women, Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness (Minnesota); and Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy and Madeline D. Davis, Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of A Lesbian Community (Routledge)
1993 Dorothy E. Smith, career; Memphis State University Center for Research on Women (Bonnie Thornton Dill, Elizabeth Higginbotham, Lynn Weber) for significant collective work; and Patricia Hill Collins, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment
1991 Barbara Katz Rothman, Recreating Motherhood: Ideology and Technology in a Patriarchical Society (W.W. Norton & Co., 1989)
1989 Joan Acker, career; Samuel R. Cohn, The Process of Occupational Sex Typing: The Feminization of Clerical Labor in Great Britain (Temple University Press, 1985); and Honorable Mention to Karen Brodkin Sacks, Caring by the Hour (University of Illinois Press)
1987 Sandra Harding, The Science Question in Feminism (Cornell University Press, 1986); and Judith Rollins, Between Women: Domestics and Their Employers (Temple University Press, 1986)
1985 Joan Huber, career; and Judith G. Stacey, Patriarchy and the Socialist Revolution in China
1983 Alice S. Rossi, career
1981 Elise Boulding, career
1979 Valerie Kincaid Oppenheimer, The Female Labor Force in the United States: Demographic and Economic Factors Governing Its Growth and Changing Composition (University of California and Greenwood Press); Nancy Chodorow, The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender (University of California Press); and Honorable Mention to Kristin Luker, Taking Chances: Abortion and the Decision Not to Contracept (University of California Press)
