NewsCenter

UB Expert

Lois Weis

Expertise:

• Lives of urban women, particular problems and challenges faced by impoverished women and those suffering from domestic violence

Weis is a sociologist and author of several nationally regarded studies about urban children, adolescents and women. She produced a study of white working women in relatively stable families that reveals what researchers call a "horrific picture of lives saturated with domestic violence." Weis conducted the study, part of a larger study funded by a $500,000 grant from the Spencer Foundation, with Michelle Fine of CUNY. The Weis-Fine study documents the lives of white, black and Latino poor and working-class families from 1980-92. She also organized the first major national conference that explored the lives, strengths, problems and needs of young urban women