Sharon Lerner

Sharon Lerner is a journalist focusing on work-life balance, education, health equity and other issues affecting families in the United States. While at Demos, she is writing a book, “Chutes and Ladders: Learning from the Best —and Worst—Places to Raise Children in America.” She has also written extensively about reproductive politics.

Lerner’s first book, "The War on Moms: On Life in a Family-Unfriendly Nation" (Wiley, 2010), put a human face on American family policy. NPR called it “A stinging account of how public policy and private businesses have failed to adapt to working mothers.” The Los Angeles Times described it as “An infuriating, galvanizing read—a page-turner for working moms.”

Lerner has worked as a writer, reporter and public radio producer. A former Village Voice columnist, she has also written for The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, The American Prospect, The Nation, Salon.com, DoubleX/Slate.com, and Ms, among other publications.

Lerner is the recipient of numerous journalism awards, including the Front Page Award for News Coverage, and the Jane Cunningham Croly/GFWC Print Journalism Award, and a special award from the Women and Politics Institute. She went to Brown University and the Columbia School of Public Health. Before coming to Demos, she was a senior fellow at the New School’s Center for New York City Affairs.