Isabel Pike

Isabel Pike is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at McGill University, affiliated with the Faculty of Arts. She previously held positions at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva (2020-2023). Her research focuses on gender, development, and inequality, with a regional specialization in Africa. She holds a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2020).

Education: PhD in Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2020); Prior to academia, she worked with the UN World Food Programme in Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Mali.

Research interests include gender dynamics in development contexts, family structures, life course transitions, and the interplay of cultural narratives with policy. Her current book project examines Kenya’s ‘neglected boy child’ discourse as a lens for understanding gender backlash and repurposed development narratives. Methodologically, she combines qualitative and quantitative approaches, studying topics like marriage timing in Malawi and gender roles in male-dominated sectors.

Her publications analyze themes such as school dropout linked to gifting relationships, economic status and marriage patterns, and gender minority youth in low-income countries. She has contributed to journals like Gender & Society and Social Forces.

Labs/Teams: Collaborates with global networks on development and gender research, including the Quebec Inter-University Centre for Social Statistics.