Case Studies

The Center on Women and Public Policy's comprehensive research of the existing databases of public policy cases (such as the Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, the University of Washington's Electronic Hallway, and others) showed that less than 1% of the thousands of existing cases raise women's issues or even have a female protagonist. Professor Kenney's documentation of the paucity of cases and the poor quality of existing cases was published in the most recent issue of the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.

Since 2000, the Center embarked on a project to produce case studies in women and public policy, pulling together scholars, students, activists, and Extension educators from many different disciplinary backgrounds. Several of the cases are used in classes at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and the Sociology Department at the University of Toronto, and Mills College to name a few. The results of the project have been presented at the University of Minnesota's Academy of Teaching conference, the annual meeting of the Association of Policy Analysis and Management, and at the National Council of Research on Women's annual conference.