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Ann Oakley

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This article is about the sociologist and writer. For the sharpshooter, see Annie Oakley.

Ann Rosamund Oakley
BornAnn Rosamund Titmuss
(1944-01-17) 17 January 1944 (age 80)
Pen nameRosamund Clay
OccupationProfessor and Founder-Director of the Social Science Research Unit at the Institute of Education, University of London
NationalityBritish
Alma materBedford College, University of London, Somerville College, Oxford
GenreFiction (novelist)
and non-fiction sociology and feminism
SubjectSociology and feminism
Notable worksThe Men's Room (adapted for BBC television)
RelativesProfessor Richard Titmuss (father)
Literature portal

Ann Rosamund Oakley (née Titmuss; born 17 January 1944)[1] is a British sociologist, feminist, and writer. She is professor and founder-director of the Social Science Research Unit at the UCL Institute of Education of the University College London, and in 2005 partially retired from full-time academic work to concentrate on her writing, especially on new novels.

Biography

Oakley is the only daughter of Professor Richard Titmuss[2] and wrote a biography of her parents as well as editing some of his works for recent re-publication. Her mother Kathleen, née Miller, was a social worker.

Ann Oakley was born in London in 1944. She was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls and Somerville College, Oxford University taking her Bachelor of Arts in 1965, having married fellow future academic Robin Oakley the previous year. In the next few years Oakley wrote scripts for children's television, wrote numerous short stories and had two novels rejected by publishers. Returning to formal education at Bedford College, University of London, she gained a PhD in 1969; the qualification was a study of women's attitudes to housework, from which several of her early books were ultimately derived. Much of her sociological research focused on medical sociology and women's health. She has also made important contributions to debates about sociological research methods.

In 1985, Oakley moved to work at the Institute of Education in London where she set up the Social Science Research Unit (SSRU).

Ann Oakley has written numerous academic works, many focusing on the lives and roles of women in society as well as several best-selling novels, of which the best-known is probably The Men's Room, which was adapted by Laura Lamson for BBC television in 1991, and which starred Harriet Walter and Bill Nighy. She has also written an early partial autobiography. She divides her life between living in London and in a rural house where she does most of her fiction writing. She is a mother and grandmother. Her daughter, Dr Emily Caston, is course director of Film and Television at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, a governor of Film London, formerly a producer of music videos (including for U2, Madonna, and Portishead) and television commercials- and author of Celluloid Saviours- Angels and Reform Politics in Hollywood Film (2020).[3]

Publications

Non-fiction

The grave of Ann Oakley's parents, Richard and Kay Titmuss, in Highgate Cemetery.
  • Titmuss, Richard (1997) [1972]. Oakley, Ann; Ashton, John (eds.). The gift relationship: from human blood to social policy. London: LSE Books. ISBN 9780753012017. OCLC 59584491.
  • Oakley, Ann (1993) [1972]. Sex, gender and society. Aldershot: Arena, published in association with New Society. ISBN 9781857421712. OCLC 919620585.
  • Oakley, Ann (1990) [1974]. Housewife (2nd ed.). London: Penguin. ISBN 9780140135237. OCLC 495472105.
  • Oakley, Ann (1985) [1974]. The Sociology of Housework. Oxford (England) / New York: Basil Blackwell. ISBN 9780631139249. OCLC 924848490. (also translated into German, Dutch and Japanese).
  • Oakley, Ann (1976). Woman's work: the housewife, past and present. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 9780394719603. OCLC 780658245. (Re-titled version of Housewife – 1974)
  • Oakley, Ann; Mitchell, Juliet (1976). The rights and wrongs of women. Harmondsworth (England) / New York: Penguin. ISBN 9780140216165. OCLC 471591152.
  • Oakley, Ann (1980). Becoming a mother. New York: Schocken Books. ISBN 9780805237351. OCLC 757264967.
Reprinted as: Oakley, Ann (1981). From here to maternity: becoming a mother. Harmondsworth (England): Penguin. ISBN 9780140222562. OCLC 1050037773.

Fiction

Journal articles

References

  1. ^ "Oakley, Ann". Library of Congress. Retrieved 27 November 2014. (Ann Rosamund Oakley, born 17 Jan. 1944, is the real name of Rosamund Clay)
  2. ^ Janet Horowitz, Murray (3 June 1984). "Sex and Work". New York Times. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  3. ^ Celluloid Saviours- Angels and Reform Politics in Hollywood Film, Emily Caston, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020, Acknowledgements
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