About

This project is dedicated to advancing the study and public understanding of women’s poverty—bringing together rigorous qualitative research, writing, and advocacy to examine how economic hardship is shaped by gender, and to push toward meaningful policy and social change. All in all, the Women’s Poverty Project is about research, writing, and advocacy toward economic justice for women worldwide. 

Sheila M. Katz

Sheila Katz

Sheila M. Katz, PhD, is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Houston and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies affiliated faculty. She earned her MA and PhD in Sociology from Vanderbilt and her BA in Sociology & Women’s Studies from the University of Georgia.

She uses qualitative research to understand women’s poverty. Her first book, Reformed American Dreams: Welfare Mothers, Higher Education, and Activism (2019), and her forthcoming book, Careers in Sociology, are both published by Rutgers University Press.

She lives with her partner Brian, nine felines with nine lives, and her wonderful mother in a blue house in Houston.