Allison Dunatchik

I am a joint Ph.D. candidate in Sociology and Demography at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in family, gender, social stratification, social demography and comparative social policy. In Fall 2024, I will be joining the University of South Carolina as an Assistant Professor of Sociology.

My research examines how work, family and public policies shape gender inequalities in both economic outcomes and the allocation of time over the life course, with particular attention to how gender inequalities change over time and vary across social groups and contexts. My work has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Gender & Society, Sociological Science and European Sociological Review.

Has the gender revolution stalled? To what extent is it unevenly realized? What policies – in the US and elsewhere – materially contribute to gender equality? How do individuals and couples navigate changing gender norms and shifting patterns in family demography across high-income countries? These are among the questions that animate my current research agenda. My dissertation uses advanced quantitative techniques and a wide range of large-scale, longitudinal datasets from multiple countries to examine how gender inequalities in labor market outcomes are produced and reproduced over the course of long-term different-sex romantic partnerships. In addition, my current work examines how earnings penalties associated with adult care responsibilities contribute to broader gender inequalities in the labor market, how gender inequalities in economic outcomes intersect with other key axes of inequality such as race and nativity, and the consequences of women’s growing economic power within different-sex couples for union dissolution.

Prior to joining the Sociology Department at Penn, I was a data and policy analyst at the National Centre for Social Research in London. I hold an MA in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania, an MPA in Public and Social Policy from the London School of Economics and a BA in Political Science from American University.