The decline in U.S. gender equality progress in the labor market should be combated by policy changes, Professor Francine Blau ’66 said in the annual Alice Cook-Lois Gray Distinguished Lecture on Thursday. 

“We’re at something of a crossroads. After decades of progress, change has slowed,” said Blau, ILR’s Frances Perkins Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and a Cornell professor of economics.

“Gender Inequality in the Labor Market: Continuing Progress?” in King-Shaw Hall at the ILR Conference Center was co-sponsored by the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, Cornell Center for the Study of Inequality, Cornell Center for the Social Sciences, Cornell Population Center and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. A video of the talk can be seen here.

 The Cook-Gray Lecture is named to honor and advance the visions of ILR faculty Alice Hanson Cook and Lois Spier Gray, both of whom were pioneers in their fields and advocates for gender equality in labor.

A version of this story appears on the ILR School website.

Amira Shimin is a student writer for ILR Communications and Marketing.