Rate My Professor Gayle Kaufman

Gayle Kaufman is the Nancy and Erwin Maddrey Professor of Sociology and Gender & Sexuality Studies at Davidson College, serving as Chair of Gender and Sexuality Studies. They earned a Ph.D. in Sociology from Brown University, an M.A. in Development Sociology from Cornell University, and a B.A. in Rural Sociology from Cornell University. At Davidson College, Kaufman teaches courses on gender, family, sport, statistics, and research methods. These classes challenge normative conceptions of gender and sexuality, examine the role of institutions in shaping these norms, center students’ voices, and engage students in research projects. Named to the endowed Nancy and Erwin Maddrey Professorship in 2017, Kaufman has been a key figure in the Sociology and Gender & Sexuality Studies departments.

Kaufman’s research focuses on aspects of modern marriage, parenting, and family, including gender equality, LGBTQ+ relationships, work-family balance, fatherhood, and parental leave policies. They authored Superdads: How Fathers Balance Work and Family in the 21st Century (2013), analyzing how fathers adjust work lives for family involvement, and Fixing Parental Leave, offering policy lessons from Sweden and the United Kingdom. Selected publications include Bair and Kaufman (2023), “Gender, LGB status, and attitudes toward traditional wedding practices” in The Social Science Journal; Kaufman, Aiello, Ellis, and Compton (2022), “Attitudes toward same-sex marriage, polyamorous marriage, and conventional marriage ideals among college students in the southeastern United States” in Sexuality & Culture; and Morris, Chen, Kaufman, and Compton (2024), “Attitudes toward mononormativity and polyamorous legal rights in the US” in Sexuality Research and Social Policy. Kaufman was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Leicester (UK), a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge and Umeå University (Sweden), Past President of the Southern Sociological Society, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Family Studies.