Berkeley in the sixties. What an amazing time that was for a politically naïve girl from Willowdale Ontario. I did my undergraduate work at Berkeley with some of the best: Smelser, Lipsett, Glazer, Matza, Kornhauser, Skolnick, and an honor seminar with Ken Bock. On to graduate school to study population and urbanization with Petersen, Davis, Blake, Goldscheider and others. Tempted by an international career in the population field, I chose marriage and teaching instead and spent the next 18 years at UC Davis. Then, in the midst of grading midterms one weekend, I realized I wanted to get another life. I resigned from Davis in 1988 and in 1992 moved to Costa Rica with Norma Wikler (Berkeley 1973) to grow coffee and organic pineapples for export.
My sociological obra (aka oeuvre) involves writing and consulting in the area of women's rights and marriage/fertility/family planning; women's employment; and sexual and reproductive health, with a special interest in South and Southeast Asia. A few books along the way, including Rural Women at Work: Strategies for Development in South Asia (1978); Women's Work in Third World Agriculture (1985); and Population Policy and Women's Rights (1993). I still consult with organizations such as the International Women's Health Coalition in New York and, most recently, WHO, and have just finished a new book on Abortion and Common Sense. Toucans croak in the trees and an iguana waddles past the open door as I write. Costa Rica is pura vida.