Leah Ruppanner is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Co-Director of The Policy Lab at the University of Melbourne. She is an expert in family, gender, public policy, cross-national research and quantitative methods.

Her book, Boxed Out: Barriers to Mothers’ Employment across U.S. States is forthcoming with Temple University Press in 2020. This book provides an innovative framework for understanding how U.S. states vary in their childcare policies, gender empowerment and maternal employment. Associate Professor Ruppanner’s current research focuses on barriers to maternal employment, female representation in government and gender inequality in the home. Her research is published in Journal of Marriage and Family, Sociological Methods and Research, European Sociological Review and Social Science Research. She also has expansive media coverage in the New York Times, Washington Post and the Guardian and external grant success including the ARC DECRA and a current ARC Discovery on sleep.