Joya Misra is Professor of Sociology and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts.  She is also editor of the journal, Gender & Society.  Currently, Professor Misra is a member of the governing Council of the American Sociological Association, and is the 2010-2011 Chair of the Race, Gender, and Class section of the American Sociological Association.

Professor Misra’s research primarily focuses on inequality. As a political sociologist, she has been interested in understanding why poverty and other inequalities differ across countries and over time, studying how different political parties, social movements, and cultural contexts lead to a variety of outcomes.  Her work also explores labor market inequalities, exploring differences in employment, wages, and working conditions.  In all of her work, she considers how policies may work to both reinforce and mediate inequalities. Gender is a central lens for her analyses, although she also explores class, race/ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, and the intersections of these statuses.

Professor Misra’s work has appeared in the American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Gender & Society, Social Problems, and numerous other professional journals and edited volumes.  She is also co-editor, with several UMass colleagues, of Public Sociology: Fifteen Eminent Scholars Debate Politics and the Profession in the 21st Century (UC Press, 2007).

Professor Misra has won a number of awards for her research, including the World Bank/Luxembourg Income Study Gender Research Award (2009, with Michelle Budig). She is also especially proud of her College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award (2004-05), UMass Sociology Mentoring Award (2009-2010), and Sociologists for Women in Society Mentoring Award (2010).