This fall, the Center on Women, Gender, and Public Policy (CWGPP) at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs celebrates 40 years of research, teaching, and leadership for gender equity.
From vision to national first
In the early 1980s, gender discrimination remained widespread: women could be denied credit, lose jobs when pregnant, or face bias in housing and public accommodations. Minnesota was inching toward equality thanks to feminist scholars, students, activists, and policymakers.
Amid this movement, Professor Barbara Nelson and Senior Fellow Arvonne Fraser founded the first-of-its-kind university research center focused on gender and public policy in 1985.
Their goal was to combine scholarship with action and show students—especially women—that public policy was their arena. “The aim was to give students…a sense that they were wanted,” Fraser recalled later. “To teach with no concern for women was to not teach well.” Fraser passed away in 2018 at age 92.
Global reach, local impact
From the start, the Center paired global networks with Minnesota-based policy work. Fraser led the International Women’s Rights Action Watch, linking activists around the world to share resources and leverage United Nations conventions. Nelson collaborated with scholars in 43 countries to produce Women and Politics Worldwide, a landmark study of women’s political participation.
Closer to home, Fraser championed feminist leadership nationally while Nelson evaluated Minnesota’s groundbreaking “comparative worth” law on equal pay for public employees.
Training the next generation
The Center has always been a teaching hub. Since its founding, it has offered a concentration in women and public policy—the only freestanding graduate concentration of its kind at a U.S. public affairs school.
In spring 2026, CWGPP will launch a graduate minor in Gender, Intersectionality, and Public Policy, open to students across the University.
Successive leaders built on the founders’ scholar-activist model. Under Sally Kenney and Associate Director Debra Fitzpatrick, the Center organized trainings for women legislators, partnered with the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota on the influential Status Report on Women and Girls+, and launched the Infinity Project to diversify the judiciary in the 8th Circuit and Minnesota courts. Fitzpatrick also authored the state’s first comprehensive report on paid family and medical leave—legislation Minnesota adopted in 2023.
Current Director Christina Ewig continues this tradition. She advised Attorney General Keith Ellison’s task force on women’s economic security, led a 10-year evaluation of the Women’s Economic Security Act, and co-founded the Gender Policy Report, which delivers accessible, research-based analysis of U.S. policy issues through a gender lens. Internationally, Ewig collaborates with a Colombian magistrate to integrate Indigenous women’s perspectives into the nation’s peace process.
A community of leaders
CWGPP serves as a hub for students and scholars committed to gender justice. Recent Fulbright Fellow Aashraya Seth (2024–25) partnered with the Center to publish a book on menstrual health, which was distributed to Minnesota K–12 schools and state legislators. Alumni credit the Center with launching careers in higher education, reproductive health, public safety, and more.
“The opportunity to serve as a research assistant with CWGPP was instrumental in launching my career as a researcher,” said Amy Dorman, now research director at the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.
Alumna Sarah Taylor-Nanista (MPP ‘06), vice president of public affairs for Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains, calls the Center “unique and critically important. At a time when our very existence is being erased, the Center is ensuring that we are teaching students how to critically think about gender.”
Celebrating and sustaining the legacy
To honor this milestone, CWGPP will host Founders & Futures, a 40th anniversary celebration on October 23, 2025. The event will feature a panel of past directors and the presentation of inaugural Torchbearer Awards to leaders who have advanced gender equity in Minnesota and beyond.
The Center is also launching a fundraising campaign to endow a graduate research assistantship, ensuring students can continue to participate in the Center’s work while receiving salary, tuition, and health benefits.
“The past 40 years have laid a strong foundation,” Ewig said. “But times have changed, and we face a political context that threatens to reverse hard-won advances. Now, more than ever, we need a strong financial base to meet the challenges ahead.”
