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Where are the Women at Trump’s Negotiating Table?

03.8.19

BY ALEXANDRA SCHMITT It’s a familiar photo in foreign affairs: a table in an ornate room, placards lined up, and a long row of men facing off on each side. One could be forgiven for thinking this was a throwback to the 1970s, when women were barred from serving as foreign service officers after marriage. […]

Remembering “Comfort Women” in South Korea and Beyond

12.13.18

BY WON-MO KOO Just four years ago, Nadia Murad, co-recipient of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, was one of the thousands of Yazidi women sexually enslaved by ISIL. Since her escape and despite multiple death threats, Murad spoke publicly of the atrocities she suffered. Her courage in calling international attention to the often-overlooked issue of […]

Stop Calling it the “Year of the Woman”

11.5.18

BY DINA MONTEMARANO If you’ve been following the US midterm elections, you’ve likely heard the media buzz about how many women are running for elected office this year. They’re calling it “The Year of the Woman.” A record number of female candidates are running for office. 256 women won House and Senate primaries. Sixteen are […]

Race, Gender, and Poverty: Why the Environment Matters

04.24.17

BY JENNIFER HELFRICH I am an environmentalist. Friends call me a “tree hugger.” Tree huggers are a rare breed here at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). My fellow students each have their public policy area of focus—and the environment is not one of them. I understand the dilemma; HKS students tend to exhaust themselves through […]

AAPI Policy Movers: 10 Days In

01.31.17

Every election season, it seems there’s another article about AAPIs “making their voices heard.” It’s a term I’ve grown to dislike, not only because I have seen it before, but because the idea of AAPIs “making their voice heard” reinforces the stereotype that AAPIs would otherwise be silent, docile, or meek were it not for […]

Gender, Race and Identity

A Woman’s Policy Guide to the Trump Administration

12.19.16

BY MARYROSE MAZZOLA It’s now been over a month since Election Day. If you’re a progressive voter like me, you’ve probably cried (potentially on public transportation), read at least a dozen think pieces about how this happened, and rage donated your heart out. All of that is cathartic – and necessary, given the role that […]

The Digital Gender Gap: Unleashing the Value of the Internet for Women

04.30.15

BY MIA MITCHELL Today, four billion people, or two-thirds of the planet, are offline, but that is rapidly changing. Momentum is building among private, public, and non-profit actors to expand Internet access globally. From Facebook’s Internet.org to the Alliance for Affordable Internet to Oluvus, numerous projects have launched in recent years with the shared goal […]

When Glass Ceilings Meet Glass Walls

10.15.14

BY MELISSA SANDGREN Megan Smith grew up around engineers. Her grandfather helped build roads and bridges throughout the early 20th century and contributed to large portions of the transportation system in Indiana. Yet, when the young Smith enrolled at MIT in the early 1980s to study mechanical engineering, the question her grand- father asked her […]

Rwanda Strides Towards Gender Equality in Government

08.15.14

BY ELIZABETH BENNETT Rwanda is the only country in the world where more women than men serve as elected officials. For a small, land-locked nation in the middle of sub-Saharan Africa, that’s an impressive distinction. But when you consider how far the country has come over two decades, it becomes downright astonishing. For Rwandans, the […]

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