Irene Dölling

Irene Dölling (also known as Irene Mayer-Dölling; born 23 December 1942) is a German sociologist. She is now an Emeritus Professor in Women's studies, having retired from her full-time role at Potsdam University early in 2008. She serves on the advisory board of the feminist academic journal Signs.

At the time of her retirement her colleague Regina Becker-Schmidt commended Dölling for qualities that included her "creative obstinacy" .

Early life Dölling was born during the Second World War in Leicester in England The family were ethnic Germans as well as members of the Communist Party. Her Habilitation followed in 1976.

Dölling stayed at the Humboldt, subject to a couple of brief breaks, right up till 1994. In 1985, she was appointed Professor for Culture theory in the university's Cultural studies and Aesthetics Department. Partly as a result of this, female participation in the work force was relatively high in the German Democratic Republic, which correlated with a commensurate increased level of economic (though not, at least at higher levels, political) status and empowerment for women. By the time Dölling's research interests came to focus on gender issues, roughly 90% of women of working age, supported by state organised child care provision, were in full-time employment. at the Humboldt University in on 8 December 1989. In 1990, she became the centre's first Research Director. as well as serving on the scientific advisory boards of various academic journals in Germany and internationally.

Selected works

Articles in compilations 'The "New Woman" of the Weimar Republic : Visualization and Standardization of Modernization Processes' (PDF: 472Kb). In: Blostein, David and Pia Kleber; Mirror or Mask? Self-Representation in the Modern Age; Berlin: Vistas Verlag, 2003. 'East Germany: Changes in Temporal Structures in Women's Work After the Unification' (PDF: 1216Mb). In: Becker-Schmidt, Regina; Gender and Work in Transition. Globalization in Western, Middle and Eastern Europe; Opladen: Leske + Budrich, 2002. 'TEN YEARS AFTER: Gender Relations in a Changed World: New Challeneges for Women's and Gender Studies' (PDF: 665Kb). In: Jähnert, Gabriele et al.; Gender in Transition in Eastern and Central Europe Proceedings; Berlin: trafo Verlag, 2001. 'Culture and Gender' (PDF: 999Kb). In: Rueschemeyer, Marilyn and Christiane Lemke; The Quality of Life in the German Democratic Republic. Changes and Developments in a State Socialist Society; Armonk/New York/London: Sharpe, 1989.