Bila Sorj

Bila Sorj (born 1950) is a Brazilian academic and pioneer of women's studies. Born in Brazil, she made aliyah to Israel to work communally on a kibbutz and earn her bachelor's and master's degree from the University of Haifa. Returning to Brazil in 1976, she taught sociology and began incorporating women's studies into her work at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Completing her PhD at the University of Manchester in 1979, she began teaching at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 1984. She completed post-doctorate studies at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris. Her research primarily focuses on employment and the ways that gender affects both paid and unpaid labor. She also studies Judaism. Her 2000 book, Israel terra em transe: democracia ou teocracia? (Israel Land in a Trance: Democracy or Theocracy?), was a finalist for the Prêmio Jabuti in 2001. She is the coordinator of the Núcleo de Estudos de Sexualidade e Gênero (NESEG, Nucleus for Studies on Sexuality and Gender) in the graduate program of the department of Anthropology and Sociology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. She is regarded as one of the academics who opened the field of gender studies in Brazil.