Professor Joni Lovenduski is Professor Emerita at Birkbeck College London. She is the author of Gendering Politics, Feminising Political Science (ECPR Press) and the winner of numerous academic awards. The photo above is of her cat.

Please tell us a little bit about how you entered academia and your academic career

I was a mature student at Manchester University in the late 1960s.  It was an exciting time of social movements, political activism and student politics. Studying politics then and there entailed a broad social science programme in which one gradually specialised in politics and government. So we read economics, anthropology, sociology, political theory and even dipped a little into social statistics and methodology.

Which five books/articles (written by someone else) have been most important to you in your academic career?

C. Wright Mills’ The Sociological Imagination and Sheldon Wolin’s  Politics and Vision were foundational. Later I was very influenced by Lipset and Rokkan’s Party Systems and Voter Alignments. Then as I turned more and more to feminism and gender issues I was inspired by Carol Pateman’s The Sexual Contract, Gina Sapiro’s The Political Integration of Women.  This list could be much longer and ideally include foundational essays by many pioneering feminist political scientists, many of which are cited in Part 4 of Gendering Politics, Feminising Political Science.

Which person has been most influential and important to you in your academic career?

Early on Ghita Ionescu who gave me many opportunities.

Which of your own pieces of research are you most proud of?

The work on women’s political representation and recruitment and on feminist institutionalism.

What has been your greatest achievement in academia?

Surviving.

What has been your greatest disappointment in academia?

Intellectual segregation and fragmentation.

What is the first or most important thing you tell your students about parliaments?

Parliaments are gendered workplaces.

I wandered in to looking at Parliaments because of my interest in gendered political recruitment so my interests are mainly in who is there and how they got there.

Where were you born, where did you grow up, and where do you live now?

Born and grew up in the USA, on a farm in New Jersey. I now live in London and Gualdo Cattaneo, Umbria.

What was your first job?

Waitressing in a New Jersey diner.

What was the toughest job you ever had?

I once, briefly worked at a jewellers where it was my responsibility to contact women in order to repossess engagement rings on which the payments had not been kept up. In this job I learned that a surprising number of customers had, within pretty short periods of time, purchased more than one ring for more than one betrothed.

What are your hobbies?

Bridge, gardening, cooking.

What are your favourite novels?

This is too difficult. I love Jane Austen, Henry James, Scott Fitzgerald, Nancy Mitford, Anne Tyler, Michael Dibdin, Donna Leon,  Elena Ferrante. Basically I read a lot of fiction including detective novels, and enjoy contemporary fiction.

What is your favourite music?

Anything by Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett, Ludovico Einaudi, Patsy Kline, Emmylou Harris.

What are your favourite artists?

I don’t really have favourites, still exploring.

What is your favourite film?

Coen Brothers films. Martin Scorcese films. I loved The Irishman not least because it reminded me of growing up in New Jersey in the 1950s and 60s.

What is your favourite building?

Georgian London Terraces. They are simple and beautiful (admittedly not that easy to live in but …)

What is your favourite tv show?

The Sopranos. Remind me of New Jersey. More recently Le Bureau.

What is your favourite holiday destination?

Italy, you never get used to its beauty.

What is your favourite sport?

Ugh.

Boothroyd or Bercow?

Neither.

Restoration or Renewal?

Depends.

Cat or Dog?

Cats (photo available).

Fish and chips or Curry?

Both.

Planes, trains or automobiles?

Automobiles.

Scones: Devonshire or Cornish Method?

Both.

And, finally, a question asked by 8-year-old Seth: What’s the best thing about winter: snow or satsumas?

Probably satsumas as they are more likely to happen.