28 Facts About Jessie Bernard

Jessie Bernard was a persistent forerunner of feminist thought in American sociology and her life's work is characterized as extraordinarily productive spanning several intellectual and political eras.

Jessie Bernard has garnered numerous honors in her career and has several awards named after her, such as the Jessie Bernard Award.

Jessie Bernard was a prolific writer, having published 15 sole-authored books, 9 co-authored books, over 75 journal articles, and over 40 book chapters.

Jessie Bernard was the third of four children born to Jewish-Romanian parents, Bessie Kanter and David Soloman Ravitch.

Jessie Bernard's father started out delivering dairy products in Minneapolis, later became a haberdasher and finally a real estate broker.

However, Jessie Bernard graduated from public high school in 1920 and left home to study in social sciences at the University of Minnesota.

Jessie Bernard completed her undergraduate and post-graduate studies at the University of Minnesota.

Jessie Bernard earned her BA in 1923 and her MA in sociology in 1924.

Jessie Bernard studied with Pitirim Sorokin and became research assistant to her sociology professor, Luther Lee Jessie Bernard.

At Washington University in St Louis, Jessie Bernard continued her research and later earned her PhD in sociology in 1935.

Jessie Bernard took up a teaching position at Lindenwood College in 1940 where she remained teaching for the next 7 years.

Jessie Bernard managed to establish her own academic independence and became a Full Professor of sociology.

Jessie Bernard remained here for the larger part of her academic career.

Jessie Bernard retired as Professor Emeritus from Penn State University at age 62.

Jessie Bernard published the majority of her books in this period as well as several articles and presentations, establishing herself as a leading contributor to professional and lay understandings of the sociology of gender.

Jessie Bernard's work was further marked by a critical rejection of sociology as a positivistic science to the extent where she rethought her early writings in light of a feminist position.

Jessie Bernard lectured at professional meetings and universities around the world and met women from all over the world in international women's meetings.

In 1977, Jessie Bernard became an associate of the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press.

Jessie Bernard characterized her own work as a movement towards contemporary feminism or what she referred to as "the feminist enlightenment".

Jessie Bernard's research published in The Paradox of the Happy Marriage and The Future of Marriage illustrated that marriage was good for men, but not for women.

Jessie Bernard argued that men and women live in different worlds and perceive of marriage differently.

Jessie Bernard attributed this to the gendered nature of social structures in society.

Jessie Bernard was awarded the title "Research Scholar Honoris Causa" by Pennsylvania State University in 1965.

In 1976, Jessie Bernard received the Achievement Award from the American Association of University Women.

Jessie Bernard was honored by numerous associations and institutions of higher education in recognition of her work and contributions to sociology, feminist theory and the women's movement.

Jessie Bernard's start at Lindenwood College was marked by the birth of her first child, Dorothy Lee, in 1941 and the birth of her second child, Claude, in 1945.

Jessie Bernard gave birth to their third child, David, in 1950 during her time at Penn State University.

Unfortunately, Luther died of cancer the next year and Jessie Bernard had to raise their children as a single-parent.