Rosanna Hertz

* Researches the complexities of contemporary reproduction and how the intersection of reproductive technology, social media, and the wish for intimacy are expanding our ideas about families.

* Researches families in a changing economy and how social inequality at home and in the workplace shape the experiences of women and men.

My teaching and research focus on the intersection of families, gender and employment. Current courses listed in both the sociology and women’s and gender studies department include contemporary reproduction, changing families and social inequalities, global families and social policies, and a first-year seminar on “the Body.”

When I first came to Wellesley, my focus was on how inequality at home and in the workplace shape experiences of women and men. My first book, More Equal than Others: Women and Men in Dual-Career Marriages and also a later book, Working Families (edited with Nancy Marshall) address inequalities that persist between spouses and within the broader economy and how people attempt to resolve them. Recently I have written articles about the impacts of Covid19 and how single mothers and their families coped without their pre-pandemic support networks.

For the past 25 years, my research has focused on the emergence of new family forms and how they expand our understanding of kinship. I am especially interested in how the Internet is revolutionizing the choices people make as they enter into third-party reproduction arrangements (e.g. sperm and egg donor use) and also how the Internet has become a site of new possibilities for connection between genetic relatives. Single by Chance, Mothers by Choice captured popular attention with its finding that the age-old desire for motherhood was in fact reinforced by new scientific advances in reproduction. Random Families: Genetic Strangers, Sperm Donor Siblings and the Creation of New Kin, coauthored with Margaret K. Nelson, examines the contemporary interplay of genetics, social interaction, and culture expectations in the formation of web-based donor sibling kin groups. A new set of complexities emerge as donor siblings attempt to expand our understanding of kinship. I have also published scholarly articles on shift workers, sex-education and online sexual learning, and political protest at Wellesley College.

I have always wanted to teach research methods and finally, in 2025, I offered a new course on “Feminist Approaches to Research.” I have had a long-standing interest in social science methodology and feminist inquiries. This includes new conventions in data collection and ethnographic writing. I am especially interested in how people narrate and tell stories to make sense of the messiness of life. In other books and articles, I address issues of reflexivity and voice as well as studies of elites. I am the former editor of Qualitative Sociology.

I have held appointments at Harvard’s Law School in the Petrie-Flom Center and at the Brocher Foundation in Switzerland. The National Science Foundation and the Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation have funded my research. In 2023-2024, I was a Fulbright Research Chair in Health Law, Policy and Ethics, at the University of Ottawa.

Links to books:

Random Families: Genetic Strangers, Sperm Donor Siblings, and the Creation of New Kin

and

Single by Chance, Mothers by Choice: How Women are Choosing Parenthood without Marriage and Creating the New American Family

Education

• B.A., Brandeis University
• M.A., Northwestern University
• Ph.D., Northwestern University