In 1969, Presser reported on the unprecedented levels of female sterilization on the island of Puerto Rico. According to her 1965 data, 34% of mothers ages 20–49 had been sterilized, resulting in a rapid drop in the island's fertility rate. The Puerto Rican case eventually was exposed as one of the most egregious cases of compulsory sterilization policies. In the 1970s, she published extensively on the timing of fertility and its consequences for women's adult lives. The research helped establish the critical importance of the timing of first births and whether they were planned. In the 1980s Presser studied the challenges of child care, its affordability and availability. In particular, she pointed out that as women entered the labor force at higher rates, child care posed problems both for families and for the organization of the workplace. This was the subject of her presidential address to the Population Association of America, "Can We Make Time for Children?" In 1983, in the journal Science, Presser and Virginia Cain reported that one-third of dual-earner families with children had a spouse working outside of "regular" working hours. In a subsequent study, Presser found that husbands were more likely to do housework if they were home when their wives were working. That was early evidence of how families with children juggled time demands when both spouses were working, and highlighted the inadequacy of available, affordable child care options. Over the course of her research on work-family intersections, Presser played an instrumental role in establishing the need for better data collection regarding both child care arrangements and the timing of work hours. While much of the research on economic transformations in the late 20th century focused on globalization and changes in manufacturing, Presser's work showed that it was local pressures—especially the demands of the 24-hour service economy and the lack of child care options—that often drove families into hard choices. This line of research culminated in her 2003 book, Working in a 24/7 Economy: Challenges for American Families, published by the Russell Sage Foundation, which supported the work. When Working in a 24/7 Economy was published, it was featured in news reports about the family stress and health impacts of long and irregular work hours, published in the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and USA Today. Publications that reviewed the book include Science and the American Journal of Sociology.
Selected bibliography
Books
Journal articles
Harriet B. Presser Award
In 2009, the Population Association of America established the Harriet B. Presser Award, given biennially for career contributions to the study of gender and demography. The recipients of the award have been:
