This award recognizes an outstanding “A” research paper (PAE, SYPA, etc.) whose analysis of an organization or topic is focused on women or gender.

2024 Awardee: Aditi Kothari, MPP '24, for her PAE “Cooling the Divide: Building Gender-Inclusive Urban Heat Resilience.”

Aditi Kothari with Iris Bohnet receiving award

Faculty advisers are encouraged to nominate those outstanding research papers (PAE, SYPA, etc.) whose analysis of an organization or topic is focused on women and public policy. (Students may request that advisers submit research papers on their behalf focused on women and public policy, but are not permitted to submit the papers directly.)

Faculty advisers should submit papers to Laura Botero at laura_botero@hks.harvard.edu. Please include "Nomination for Jane Mansbridge Research Award" in the subject line of your email. The Jane Mansbridge Research Award will be presented on Class Day. 

  • 2023 - Alejandra Davila, Alejandro Garcia, Nesrine Mbarek, and Jamie Wu, "Somos Poderosas: Scaling Up Sexual and Reproductive Health Education in Colombia"
  • 2022 - Callie King Guffey, "Does the US Comply with the Convention on the Rights of the Child?"
  • 2021 - Beatriz Velho, "Addressing Gender-Based Violence Through Social Norms: A guide to awareness-raising initiatives in Brazil"
  • 2020 - Sofia Salas Ungar, "Training Future Local Mayors to Advance Gender Equality and Women’s Rights in Bogota"; Chu Wang, "Beyond Diversity Representation in Global Affairs Canada: How enhancing LGBTQ2+ and Indigenous inclusion in Canada’s federal department for global affairs can translate into better policy outcomes"
  • 2019 - Mathangi Swaminathan, "Reducing Gender Bias: A Handbook for Organizations in India"; Naeha Rashid, "Doing Digital Right: Addressing the Growing Financial Inclusion Gender Gap in Pakistan"
  • 2018 - Sibella Matthews, "Gender Mainstreaming in the Australian Government"
  • 2017: Raafi-Karim Alidina, "Nudging Toward Inclusion: Developing and Leveraging a Behavioural Diagnostic for Inclusion at Wellcome"; Morgan McDaniel, "Impacting Marginalized and Vulnerable Populations through Innovation: An Analysis of UNFPA Innovation Projects"
  • 2016: Tania Del Rio, "Gender Equality in the Mexican Foreign Service"; Caitlin Ryan and Deena Zeplowitz, "Partnerships in Investigating Sex Trafficking: Bridging Gaps to Support Survivors"
  • 2015 - Anne Martin Connell and Hannah Winnick, "Inclusive Security in Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations: An analysis of UNSCR 1325 as a tool to strengthen women’s participation"; Susanne Schwarz, "Of Monsters and Men: Addressing Rape Culture in U.S. News Reporting"
  • 2014 - Alexandra van Geen, "Risk in the Background: How Men and Women Respond"
  • 2013 - Laura McGorman, "Crossing Over to a Male-Dominated Sector: The Effects of Exposure, Role Models, and Information on Ugandan Female Entrepreneur’s Industry Choices"
  • 2012 - Emily Polak, "Availability, Accessibility and Awareness: Heath Care for the Women of Seattle’s Tent City"
  • 2011 - Alexandra Fielden, "Empowering Women: Empowering PNG (Papua New Guinea) A Critical Analysis of Women’s Participation in Mining Benefit Sharing Agreements and Constituency Development Funds In Papua New Guinea"
  • 2010 - Soomin Seo, "Why Teenage Girls in South Korea Lit the Candles: Analysis of 2008 Protests"
  • 2009 - Shanza Khan, "An Evaluation of the Capacity Building Component of the Punjab Safe Motherhood Initiative"
  • 2008 - Katherine Randell and Tomo Hamakawa, "Measuring the Unmeasurable: Community Reintegration of Former Child Soldiers in Cote D’Ivoire"; Molly Kinder and Emily Stanger, "President Sirleaf’s Mandate: Ensuring Women their ‘Proper Place in Liberia’s Economic Development"; Amelia Showalter, "To Train and Inspire: Increasing Female Political Representation Through Women’s Campaign Training Programs"
  • 2007 - Fiona Greig, "Propensity to Negotiate and Career Advancement in an Investment Bank: Evidence that Women are on a ‘Slow Elevator'"
  • 2006 - Shaun Gonzales, "The Intelligence Process and the Inclusion of Women in Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Stability Operations"
  • 2005 - Bonnie Daley and Jessica Gomez, "After the Ink Fades: Assessing the Key Barriers to Women’s Political Participation in Iraq"
  • 2004 - Sarah Ezzy, "Increasing Young Women’s Political and Civic Participation in Lebanon"; Jennifer Kritz, "Young Single Women at the Ballot Box"
  • 2003 - Surjeet Ahluwalia and Marie Zemler, "Stability in Foster Care: Measuring and Promoting Placements that Lead to Permanent Homes"
  • 2002 - Namju Cho, "Enforcing South Korean’s Ban on Sex Determining Tests Amid a Cultural Preference for Sons: Policy Implementation in the Face of Opposing Social Norms"; Ann Marie Jackson and Melanie Anderton, "Removing the Gag: New Strategies to Repeal the Global Gag Rule. A Human Security Approach to Policy Analysis"
  • 2001 – Therese Leung, "Building Assets for Women: A Guide to Designing Individual Development Accounts for Low-Income Women in Boston"

About Jane Mansbridge

Jane Mansbridge is a Professor Emerita of Harvard Kennedy School and former WAPPP faculty chair. She is the author of Beyond Adversary Democracy, an empirical and normative study of face-to-face democracy, and the award-winning Why We Lost the ERA, a study of anti-deliberative dynamics in social movements based on organizing for an Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. She is also an editor of the volumes. Her current work includes studies of representation, democratic deliberation, everyday activism, and the public understanding of collective action problems.