Jenny Gierveld has been a researcher in the field of socio-demographic research since her PhD in 1969. She was appointed assistant professor and became full professor in 1978, at the VU in Amsterdam. In the 1980s she was among the first survey researchers involved in several large-scale panel research undertakings, such as a panel survey among young adults, investigating the attitudes and behavior concerning partner relationships and a panel survey among adults aged 55 -85 years investigating among others their partner history, living arrangements and social networks of kin and non-kin (Longitudinal Ageing Study Amsterdam, LASA). In 1987 she was appointed Director of the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI). In this function she became involved in the preparatory work to launch a country comparative demographic panel survey encompassing respondents aged 18 to 79 years, the Generations and Gender Programme (GGP) under the auspices of the Population Activities Unit of the United Nations, in Geneva. This was an innovative undertaking oriented towards the social interactions between generations. In doing so, for the first time in history, the comparative demographic survey would encompass respondents in all age groups from 18 years onwards towards including a substantial number of older adults, both men and women. The preparatory work resulted in the implementation and successful launching of the GGP in the year 2000.
The launch of the GGP formed a very fruitful basis for country comparative demographic research, back in 2000 as well as in the years to come.
Click here for more information on the first GGP Consortium Board meeting in 2000 and other founders of the GGP.
