Ruth Lister, Baroness Lister of Burtersett
# Ruth Lister, Baroness Lister of Burtersett

Margot Ruth Aline Lister, Baroness Lister of Burtersett, CBE, FBA, FAcSS (born 3 May 1949), is currently Professor of Social Policy at Loughborough University. She has written or contributed to a number of books, pamphlets and articles on poverty, social security and women's citizenship.

## Biography

She was born to Dr Werner Bernard and Daphne (née Carter) Lister. She attended a private school and then the University of Essex, from which she graduated with a BA in sociology, and continued to an MA in multi-racial studies from the University of Sussex. She has also received honorary doctorates from the Caledonian University. After completing her MA, she worked for the Child Poverty Action Group.

She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1999 Birthday Honours and, in 2009, became a Fellow of the British Academy. She was appointed to the House of Lords as a life peer on 31 January 2011 as Baroness Lister of Burtersett, of Nottingham in the County of Nottinghamshire (Burtersett being the village her mother originated from). She sits as a member of the Labour Party.

## Employment history

### Child Poverty Action Group

* Legal Res. Officer, 1971–75
* Assistant Director, 1975–77
* Deputy Director 1977–79
* Director 1979–87

### As a professor

* Professor of Applied Social Studies, University of Bradford, 1987–93
* Professor of Social Policy, Loughborough University, 1994 onwards
* Donald Dewar Visiting Professor of Social Justice, University of Glasgow, 2005–06

### Miscellaneous

* Vice-Chair, NCVO, 1991–93
* Member: Opsahl Commission, 1992–93
* Commission for Social Justice, 1992–94
* Commission on Poverty, Participation and Power, 1999–2000
* Fabian Commission on Life Chances and Child Poverty, 2004–06
* National Equality Panel, 2008–10
* The Eleanor Rathbone Memorial Lecture, University of Leeds, 1989
* Founding Academician, Academy of Social Sciences, 1999

## Publications

* Supplementary Benefit Rights, 1974
* Welfare Benefits, 1981
* The Exclusive Society, 1990
* Women's Economic Dependency and Social Security, 1992
* Citizenship: feminist perspectives, 1997, 2nd edition 2003
* Poverty, 2004
* Poverty, 2nd edition 2020 ISBN 978-0745645971
* Gendering Citizenship in Western Europe, 2007
* Co-editor of Why Money Matters, 2008
* Understanding Theories and Concepts in Social Policy, 2010
