Events

CHAIRPERSON

Dr Chung Wei-Yun, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

Our understanding of what makes a family has changed dramatically in recent decades due to advances in reproductive technologies accompanied by changing social attitudes. But what has the impact been on children? This seminar will present a summary of research on families with lesbian mothers, gay fathers, single mothers by choice and transgender parents, as well as families created by egg donation, sperm donation, embryo donation and surrogacy. The findings show that these new family forms are just as likely to flourish as traditional families, and sometimes more so, although the children will sometimes face prejudiced attitudes from others. It is concluded that the quality of family relationships and the wider social environment matter more for children’s psychological wellbeing than the number, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or biological relatedness of their parents.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Susan Golombok is Professor of Family Research and Director of the Centre for Family Research at the University of Cambridge, and Professorial Fellow at Newnham College, Cambridge. She has pioneered research on lesbian mother families, gay father families, families with transgender parents, families formed by single mothers by choice, and families created by assisted reproductive technologies including in vitro fertilisation (IVF), donor insemination, egg donation and surrogacy. Her research has challenged commonly held assumptions about these families as well as widely held theories of child development. Susan Golombok has authored more than 300 academic papers and seven books, and her award-winning research has contributed to policy and legislation on the family both nationally and internationally. She was a member of the UK government’s surrogacy review committee in the late 1990s, a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics Working Party on Donor Conception in 2012-13, and a member of the International Commission on the Clinical Use of Human Germline Genome Editing in 2019-20. Her most recent book, We Are Family, was published in October 2020.

REGISTRATION

Registration is closed, and instructions on how to participate in this webinar has been sent out to registered attendees. Please write to aritm@nus.edu.sg if you would like to attend the webinar.