Expertise
Overlapping areas of economic development, gender, labor, & public policyResearch Interests
Research and teaching interests include gender issues, economic development, and the role of public policy in development.Education
Ph.D., UMass AmherstBiosketch
Jean L. Pyle is professor emerita in the Department of Economics. An economist by training, she specializes in the overlapping areas of labor, economic development, and policy, with particular attention to gender and diversity issues.
She has published in several different areas of interest. They include the effects of globalization and global restructuring on women. She is also the author of the book "The State and Women in the Economy: Lessons from Sex Discrimination in the Republic of Ireland" (State University of New York Press, 1990).
At UMass Lowell, Jean served as co-director of the Center for Women and Work (1998-2002) and as co-chair of CITA (the Committee for Industrial Theory and Assessment) from 1997-2001, a university-wide committee that sponsors the annual "Approaches to Sustainable Development" workshop every October. Jean co-developed two graduate courses in RESD: Development Principles for Developing Economies (57.537) with Robert Forrant and Gender Differences at Work (57.504) with Arlene McCormack.
Jean has worked as a consultant for UNIDO (The United Nations Industrial Development Organization) on gender and development issues and for a regional corporation regarding facilitation of workforce diversity. She has also linked her teaching and research directly to the region. She developed and taught the Economic Development leadership course for immigrants and refugees in the Greater Lowell and Lawrence region, under the state-wide CIRCLE program (Center for Immigrant and Refugee Community Leadership Empowerment).
She belongs to professional organizations in a variety of fields. She is on the editorial board of Globalizations and is an advisory board member for The Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She served on the Board of Directors of the Eastern Economic Association and is a member of the American Economic Association, the International Association for Feminist Economics, the Society for International Development, the American Sociological Association, and the Association for Women's Rights in Development. She has presented her research at recent annual conferences held by each of these organizations.
Jean’s current work analyzes the major trends characterizing the recent period of globalization and shows how they have contributed to the rise of several types of work (sex work, domestic service, and production in subcontracting networks for export) that are distinctly gendered, span the globe, and increasingly involve the migration or trafficking of women. Examining these types of work simultaneously reveals the systemic linkages among the global expansion of production of goods and services, trade, and finance (promoted by multinational corporations and the IMF and World Bank) and the resultant increase of women in gendered labor networks. She is exploring what is known about the extent of trafficking into these occupations and the strategies that have been developed by the women themselves and policy makers to address the abuses.
Selected Publications
Recasting Our Understanding of Gender and Work During Global Restructuring, co-authored by Jean L. Pyle and Kathryn B. Ward, in "Globalization and Economy, Volume IV: Globalizing Labour," edited by Paul James and Robert O’Brien (Sage Publications, 2007), pages 120–144. Originally published in International Sociology in 2003 as part of a special issue on globalization, gender and social change in the 21st century (Vol. 18, No. 3, pages 461–489).
Globalization, Transnational Migration, and Gendered Care Work: An Introduction, "Globalizations," Vol. 3, No. 3 (September 2006), pages 283–295.
Globalization and the Increase in Transnational Care Work: The Flip Side, "Globalizations," Vol. 3, No. 3 (September 2006), pages 297–315.
Economic Globalization and Gender, in the "International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences," edited by Neil J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes (Pergamon/Elsevier, 2002), pages 4089–4093.
Sex, Maids, and Export Processing: Gendered Global Production Networks, "International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society," Vol. 15, No. 1 (2001), pages 55–76.
Gender, Industrialization, Transnational Corporations and Development: An Overview of Trends and Patterns, co-authored, reprinted in "From Modernization to Globalization: Social Perspectives on International Development," edited by Amy Hite and J. Timmons Roberts (Blackwell, 2000), pages 306–327. Originally published in Women in the Latin American Development Process (Temple University Press, 1995), edited by Chris Bose and Edna Acosta-Belen.
Third World Women and Global Restructuring, in "The Handbook of the Sociology of Gender," edited by Janet S. Chafetz (Plenum Publishing, 1999), pages 81–104.
Economic Restructuring, co-authored, in "The Elgar Companion to Feminist Economics," edited by Janice L. Peterson and Margaret Lewis (Elgar Publishing, 1999), pages 289–303.
Women and Employment in Multinationals, in "Women in the Third World: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Issues," edited by Nelly P. Stromquist (Garland, 1998), pages 341–350.
Edited Volumes on Sustainability and Universities
"Globalization, Universities, and Issues of Sustainable Human Development," co-edited with Robert Forrant (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2002 & 2003). This volume examines how universities can promote sustainable human development in a globalized context.
Globalization, Universities and Sustainable Human Development: A Framework for Understanding the Issues, co-authored by Jean L. Pyle and Robert Forrant, in "Globalization, Universities and Issues of Sustainable Human Development," edited by Jean L. Pyle and Robert Forrant (Edward Elgar Press, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA), pages 3–28.
"Approaches to Sustainable Development: The Public University in the Regional Economy," co-edited with Robert Forrant, William Lazonick and Charles Levenstein (University of Massachusetts Press, 2001). This work explores the role of public universities in regional development and university–community collaboration.
Globalization, Universities and Sustainable Human Development, co-authored by Jean L. Pyle and Robert Forrant, "Development," Vol. 45, No. 3 (2002), pages 102–106.
Research on Workforce Diversity and Organizational Inclusion
Gendered Work Conditions, Health, and Work Outcomes, co-authored by Meg A. Bond, Laura Punnett, Jean L. Pyle, Manuela Cooperman and Dianne Cazeca, "Journal of Occupational Health Psychology," Vol. 9, No. 1 (2004), pages 28–45.
Family and Medical Leave Act: Unresolved Issues, co-authored by Jean L. Pyle and Marianne Pelletier, "New Solutions," Vol. 13, No. 4 (2003), pages 353–384.
Gender and Ethnic Divisions in the U.S. Labor Force, co-authored by Jean L. Pyle and Meg Bond, in "The IEBM Handbook of Economics," edited by William Lazonick (International Thomson Publishing Company, 2002), pages 66–74. Also included in IEBM Online.
Diversity Dilemmas at Work, co-authored by Jean L. Pyle and Meg Bond, "Journal of Management Inquiry," Vol. 7, No. 3 (1998), pages 252–269.
The Ecology of Diversity in Organizational Settings: Lessons from a Case Study, co-authored by Jean L. Pyle and Meg Bond, "Human Relations," Vol. 51, No. 5 (1998), pages 589–623.
Workforce Diversity: Emerging Interdisciplinary Challenges, co-authored by Jean L. Pyle and Meg Bond, "New Solutions," Vol. 7, No. 2 (Winter 1997), pages 41–57.
Research on Singapore’s Economic Policies and Women’s Roles
Economic Development, Housing, and the Family: Is the Singapore Approach a Model? in "Women’s Rights to House and Land: China, Laos, Vietnam," edited by Irene Tinker and Gale Summerfield (Lynne Rienner Publishing, 1999), pages 27–52.
Economic History of Women in Singapore, in "The Elgar Companion to Feminist Economics," edited by Janice L. Peterson and Margaret Lewis (Elgar Publishing, 1999), pages 235–245.
Women, the Family, and Economic Restructuring: The Singapore Model? Review of Social Economy, Vol. 55, No. 2 (Summer 1997), pages 215–223. Reprinted online by the Harvard School of Public Health (February 2000).