Training Leaders to Examine Policy through a Critical Gender Lens

Longstanding gender imbalances in the political arena have prevented women from gaining an influence over important public policy decisions affecting them, their families and their societies. Harvard Kennedy School’s Women and Public Policy Program (WAPPP) was founded in 1998 as an academic center focused on addressing public policies that have an impact upon women, while also informing and learning from women who shape policy.

Founding director Swanee Hunt, former U.S. Ambassador to Austria, working alongside then-faculty chair Jane Mansbridge, was determined to reach across sectors to build an engaging and robust program. And as WAPPP celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, it continues to work with academics, students, government officials, influential media, corporate and military decision makers, and leaders of civil society to provide research, instruction, and training related to many of the most pressing issues of our time.

“We seek to shape the policy agenda by involving women at all levels of public policy, from the grassroots to heads of state,” Hunt says. “And we have witnessed great progress over the past decade; however there is still much work to be done to ensure that women and women’s issues are equally represented in the policy arena.”

The program organizes seminars, conferences, and dialogues throughout the academic year, and supports faculty, research fellows and graduate students working on assorted gender-related policy issues.

“From Harvard Square to the Oval Office” is one of WAPPP’s signature initiatives designed to provide a select group of Harvard students with the training and support they need to ascend in the electoral process at the local, state and national levels.

Oval Office alumna Hilda Zacarias, MPA/MC 2006 is one of the program’s success stories, becoming only the third woman in more than a hundred years to win a seat on the Santa Maria, California city council.

“Our first decade has seen WAPPP emerge as a powerful force for critical gender perspectives on public policy,” said Iris Bohnet, faculty chair of WAPPP. “Moving forward, it is crucial that we continue to reach out to policy makers across the world – whether male or female – and educate them on gender, and the role that gender plays in the public policies of their respective countries.”