Experts from WCW, Wellesley College, and beyond discussed ways that the U.S. can work to advance gender equality, social justice, and human wellbeing.

Law student and single-mother Michaela Martin celebrates her graduation from Oregon State University with her mother and son. Martin created and championed SB 564 to support Oregon student parents. Photo courtesy of Michaela Martin.Autumn Green, Ph.D., shared her research and personal experience with Oregon lawmakers regarding a bill that would collect data on student parents.

Several new studies from Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D., and Jennifer M. Grossman, Ph.D., help us understand more about the experiences of LGBTQ+ teens.

Researchers from our National Institute on Out-of-School Time share findings from a STEM program for girls in rural Pennsylvania.

Deniz Çivril, Ph.D., discusses ongoing studies by our Women in the Workplace Research Initiative related to the COVID-19 pandemic, paid sick leave, and paid parental leave.

A recent study highlights changes in the ways parents talk to their teens about dating and relationships during COVID-19.

Researchers share lessons from their observations of 200 hours of online academic and general enrichment programs.

Autumn Green, Ph.D., has created a number of helpful tools for student parents.

Kamilah Drummond-Forrester, M.A., CAGS, testified at a hearing on reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A WCW research team developed a checklist to aid institutions in designing and maintaining user-friendly website content related to the prevention of and response to sexual violence.

Tracy Gladstone, Ph.D., will support WCW’s research scientists through peer review of proposals, thought partnership in mapping research trajectories, and mentorship.

SEED Co-Directors Gail Cruise-Roberson and Emmy Howe share lessons from SEED on how to have difficult conversations within our communities.

A journal article co-authored by Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D., explores how pets can act as either a substitute or a complement to social interactions online.

The share of immigrant entrepreneurs in the U.S. has increased, which means they will play a major role in the economic recovery from COVID-19, according to Sari Pekkala Kerr, Ph.D.

Wendy Robeson, Ed.D., highlights the challenges working families face during the pandemic, and how a national child care policy could help.

Despite the need to leave campus, WCW mentors and interns found ways to continue their collaborations.

Connecting with people remotely, reframing negative thoughts, and taking care of physical health can help prevent depressive symptoms during isolation.

Jennifer Grossman, Ph.D., will survey parents of high school students to understand how extended time at home may have changed the way they talk about dating and relationships.

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. Photo by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, under CC BY-SA license.

Our Justice and Gender- Based Violence Research Initiative examined the many different ways colleges and universities approach Title IX sexual assault investigations.

Our depression prevention research team will screen middle and high school students for symptoms of depression and anxiety, then compare that data with screenings done before COVID-19.

Photo by Elyssa ConleyVisiting Scholar Hauwa Ibrahim, J.D., S.J.D., M.L., speaks at a celebration of International Women’s Day at Wellesley College.

Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D., shares tips for parents wondering how to help their children maintain a healthy relationship with social media during isolation.

Open Circle offers virtual training and other resources for elementary school teachers, many of whom taught remotely for the remainder of the school year.

Wendy Wagner Robeson, Ed.D., helps to chart a path forward for Massachusetts early childhood care and education programs, which have been hit hard by COVID-19.

Hauwa Ibrahim, J.D., S.J.D., M.L., and LaShawnda Lindsay, Ph.D., explain how they worked to steer youth away from extremism through science, technology, engineering, arts, and math education.

A journal article co-authored by Jennifer Grossman, Ph.D., explores how fathers can positively contribute to their teenage child’s sexual health.

Katherine Buchholz, Ph.D., discusses her background and projects she is involved with as a new postdoctoral research scientist at WCW.

A journal article co-authored by WCW’s Nan Stein, Ed.D., examines how schools can change their culture to prevent sexual harassment from becoming normalized.

Sari Pekkala Kerr, Ph.D., discussed her findings on the positive contributions that immigrant entrepreneurs make to the American economy.

A recent study from our Justice and Gender-Based Violence Research Initiative details challenges related to the prosecution of child sexual abuse cases.

Kamilah Drummond-Forrester, M.A., CAGS, explains why she believes social and emotional learning is critical for effective implementation of restorative justice practices.

A WCW research team conducts a pilot study to develop a depression prevention program for Wellesley College students.

The National Institute on Out-of-School Time partnered with a STEM education program to study which practices work better for girls in rural areas.

Assumptions about a potential jury’s social biases are tied to sexual assault cases dropping out of the criminal justice system.

Nan Stein, Ed.D., brings Shifting Boundaries, a middle school sexual harassment prevention program, to new audiences.

Peggy McIntosh, Ph.D., a leading voice on white privilege and anti-racism work, shares a collection of her essays on privilege and power in a new book.

Ellen Gannet, M.Ed., was honored during the 2019 National AfterSchool Association Annual Convention for her decades of leadership in the out-of-school time field.

A new study from economist Sari Pekkala Kerr, Ph.D., highlights differences in networking habits of immigrant and non-immigrant entrepreneurs.

Online games like Fortnite influence youth development, according to findings from Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D.

Scholars from WCW investigate how Black women and girls cope with sexual violence and whether #MeToo reflects their experiences.

A study by Jennifer M. Grossman, Ph.D., explored how extended families support teens’ sexual health.

The National SEED Project and Open Circle teamed up to facilitate a workshop on equity and social and emotional learning at Tufts University.

Tracy Gladstone, Ph.D., and colleagues identify a connection between youth and parents dealing with anxiety and depression.

Visiting Scholar Karen Craddock, Ph.D., examines Black motherhood in a new book chapter.

Wellesley Centers for Women will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2024 and in recognition of this milestone has launched a history project, “Looking Back & Looking Forward: A Half Century of Social Change, 1974-2024.” This multi-year initiative will feature a collection of historical information about the foundation, growth, projects, events, social impact of, and the people and partners related to the Centers’ research-and-action work. Progressing until 2024, pieces for the collection will be produced, curated, and archived on the WCW website, wcwonline.org/halfcentury.

Immigrant Entrepreneurship in America: Key Lessons from Recent Research

Immigration plays an important role in the growth of the U.S. population and economy, yet we continue to debate whether it has positive or negative impacts on native U.S. workers, and how these impacts are divided among population groups. In the last few years, it seems that the tone of this debate has become increasingly bitter and the views more divided.

New Scholars Explore Motherhood and Women’s Lives

Hauwa Ibrahim, J.D., S.J.D., M.L., has over 15 years of experience in human rights law, including successfully defending 150 women and children in Shariah Courts. During her time as a visiting scholar at WCW, in addition to working on two manuscripts, she is focusing primarily on further developing the Mothers Without Borders initiative, a project that explores how mothers and communities can prevent the radicalization of youth.

New Scholars Explore Motherhood and Women’s Lives

Applied psychologist Karen Craddock, Ph.D., initially joined the Centers in 2014 as a scholar and faculty member with the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute, a legacy project of WCW. Now she is continuing her studies around Relational Cultural Theory as a WCW visiting scholar and linking it with her work on optimal resistance and resilience. Her work is focused on addressing issues of equity and trauma and developing wellness, strengths, and connection, particularly among marginalized communities.

New Scholars Explore Motherhood and Women’s Lives

Autumn Green, Ph.D., is an applied sociologist whose research focuses on access to higher education for student parents. Her current work includes the first comprehensive research study on resources and programs for student parents at colleges and universities in the U.S.

WCW hosted a parallel event during the 62nd United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

Feminist writer and activist Jennifer Baumgardner has been named editor in chief of Women’s Review of Books.

March 19, 2018

Does social media activism decrease in-person activism? Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D., discusses this in relation to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. 

Advancing Early Childhood Care and Education Policy in the U.S.

While not always a pressing domestic priority for all Americans, early childhood care and education (ECCE) for young children has been in the forefront for many working families for decades. In order to work or go to school or training, parents need someone to watch their young children before they are old enough to go to school. Sixty-one percent of children under the age of five are in some type of regular ECCE arrangement, and ECEE serves dual purposes. It not only allows parents to be employed or be in school or training, it also helps prepare children for school and academic success—this is especially true for children from families with low incomes. Even quality afterschool care or out-of-school-time care for school-age children can be hard to obtain. Finding the kind of care mothers and fathers want for their children and then learning they can’t afford it has broken many parents’ hearts and budgets. What are they to do? 

Talking About Sex: Extended Family As Educators and Allies

Jennifer Grossman, Ph.D., is currently principal investigator of an R21 award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)—Adolescent Communication with Family and Reproductive Health, which includes the first comprehensive assessment of teens’ sexuality communication with extended family and its associations with sexual behavior as well as an exploration of extended family approaches to talking with teens about sex. Grossman is also principal investigator of an R03 award from NICHD—Risk Behaviors Among Offspring of Teen Parents: Effects of Parenting on the Next Generation, which addresses the potential of maternal and paternal parenting to reduce the high risk of early sex and teen pregnancy for offspring of teen parents. (The R21 grant mechanism is intended to encourage exploratory/developmental research by providing support for the early and conceptual stages of project development. The R03 grant mechanism supports small research projects that can be carried out in a short period of time with limited resources.)

Collaborations and Communication: A School-Based Depression Prevention & Intervention Program

Depression is a common problem among adolescents. The average age for a first onset of depression is 15, and about 20 percent of teens will have experienced significant depressive symptoms by the time they are 18. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents in the U.S. Research indicates that 16 percent of U.S. adolescents report seriously considering suicide in a one-year period, and eight percent of U.S. adolescents report making a suicide attempt. Studies have found that more than 50 percent of adolescents who committed suicide had a mood disorder at the time. Building on her ongoing depression prevention and intervention work with adolescents, Gladstone and her clinical research team are working with two Greater Boston towns to pilot in-school screenings.

Three of the leading gender-focused and policy research centers in the United States brought together an outstanding and diverse group of guests and speakers from the spheres of policymaking, research, business, labor, philanthropy, and advocacy in June for the policy research forum in Washington, D.C., “From Persistence to Power: Facts, Truth, & Equity for Women,” featuring keynote addresses by Maggie Hassan, U.S. Senator representing New Hampshire, and Charlotte Burrows, Commissioner, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Research & Action Report, Fall/Winter 2016

By Laura Pappano

The Olympics may be—on the surface—about international goodwill, but they are more baldly about political competition. They also offer a report card on gender equity progress. One could credit the rise of women’s athletics in the U.S., not to the passage of Title IX in 1972, but to the Cold War realization that the medal gap between the U.S. and the Soviet Union was essentially the difference in women’s participation.

The Olympics may be—on the surface—about international goodwill, but they are more baldly about political competition. They also offer a report card on gender equity progress. One could credit the rise of women’s athletics in the U.S., not to the passage of Title IX in 1972, but to the Cold War realization that the medal gap between the U.S. and the Soviet Union was essentially the difference in women’s participation.

Sari Pekkela Kerr, Ph.D, senior research scientist/economist, Wellesley Centers for Women

Although research shows clear benefits of family leave, the U.S. remains the only developed country that does not offer paid family leave for its workers. This hampers women’s work efforts and endangers the wellbeing of children.

Sari Pekkela Kerr, Ph.D, senior research scientist/economist, Wellesley Centers for Women

Research demonstrates highly positive impacts of skilled immigration resulting in countries competing globally for talent. Although many countries are continuously introducing new policies to attract more skilled workers, the U.S. immigration policy is in a gridlock with little progress.

April Pattavina, Ph.D., senior scholar, Justice and Gender-Based Violence Research Initiative, Wellesley Centers for Women

The physical, psychological, and economic consequences for victims of domestic violence (DV) and their families have been well documented, and although recent federal legislation provides certain housing protections for some DV victims, many women and their families remain at great risk for homelessness and ongoing violence.

Wellesley Centers for Women Welcomes Two New Research Scientists

The work of Research Scientist LaShawnda Lindsay focuses on factors influencing the academic experiences of African American girls and young women—including the teaching and the curricula presented to them and the culture, aspirations, and expectations they bring to their classrooms.

Wellesley Centers for Women Welcomes Two New Research Scientists

Research Scientist Erin Johnson is a microeconomist who studies questions in health care such as how physicians respond to financial incentives when making treatment decisions. In addition to measuring impacts of various factors on treatment, her work is interested in the resultant impacts on patient health, which she measures using patient diagnoses and other health indicators. Some of her current work examines how the physician-patient relationship affects treatment.

Let’s Talk about #Sex by Jennifer Grossman, Ph.D.

Think about it—in many of our parents’ and grandparents’ generations, there was little family conversation about sex. Often, for religious and cultural reasons, family communication about sex was considered taboo. Many teens did not know what sex was or how to protect themselves from pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections (STIs). This has changed in many families, as cultural expectations have shifted and there is growing recognition that teenparent sexuality communication can protect teens from early pregnancy and STIs. Many parents also have reflected on the potentially harmful effects that ignorance about sexuality had on their own teenage years and lived experiences. Parents now often commit to talking with their children about sex, breaking from traditions of family silence from past generations, as a way to support their children’s healthy development.

by Ellen Gannett, M.Ed. and Elizabeth Starr, M.Ed., National Institute on Out-of-School Time

As expectations for high-quality afterschool and outof-school time (OST) programs continue to rise, a skilled, stable and committed OST workforce is critically important. Yet supports for youth workers, and resulting staff quality, remain uneven at best due in part to a highly fragmented landscape. Compensation remains stagnant and opportunities for professional advancement and public recognition remain practically non-existent.

The March April 2016 issue of Women’s Review of Books (WRB) was quite different from the publication’s usual offering. Amy Hoffman, M.F.A., editor-in-chief, included a special section featuring WRB writers and some other favorite feminists sharing recommendations of what they thought the next U.S. president should be reading, in preparation for taking office. Additionally, Cartoon Editor Jennifer Camper illustrated the special section and added brevity with her artwork. The list that resulted is fascinating—and could probably keep even the most well-read person productively busy for the entire next presidential term. But it wasn’t quite what Hoffman expected.

By Tracy R.G. Gladstone, Ph.D., WCW associate director and senior research scientist, director of the Robert S. and Grace W. Stone Primary Prevention Initiatives

According to the World Health Organization, depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide—it is the most common psychiatric disorder in the U.S., and is particularly common among lower income populations, and among women beginning in adolescence. The average age of onset for depression is 15, and about 20 percent of all people will have experienced an episode of depression by the end of adolescence. Youth depression is associated with a host of negative and long-term consequences, including poorer school performance, difficult peer and family relationships, increased risk of substance abuse, and poorer functional outcomes in adulthood. Of particular note is the connection between youth depression and suicide. Although not all people who commit suicide were depressed at the time, depression and suicidal behavior are indeed linked. Suicide is a tremendous problem in the U.S. and is the second leading cause of death among American adolescents.

Research & Action Report, Spring/Summer 2016

By Jennifer Grossman Ph.D.

Think about it—in many of our parents’ and grandparents’ generations, there was little family conversation about sex. Often, for religious and cultural reasons, family communication about sex was considered taboo. Many teens did not know what sex was or how to protect themselves from pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections (STIs). This has changed in many families, as cultural expectations have shifted and there is growing recognition that teenparent sexuality communication can protect teens from early pregnancy and STIs. Many parents also have reflected on the potentially harmful effects that ignorance about sexuality had on their own teenage years and lived experiences. Parents now often commit to talking with their children about sex, breaking from traditions of family silence from past generations, as a way to support their children’s healthy development.

Peggy McIntosh, Ph.D., founder of the National SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum (Seeking Educational Equity & Diversity presented at a conference on women’s studies in China and other parts of the world held at Capital Normal University in Beijing, June 26-28, 2015. This program was hosted by The Center for Studies in Chinese Women’s Culture, the Forum on Women’s Literature in Chinese, and the Women’s Literature Commission of the China World Association for Chinese Literatures. McIntosh delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the conference which focused on women’s studies.

Tracy Gladstone, Ph.D., also traveled to Santiago, Chile in April 2015 where she presented at the inaugural symposium on the Prevention and Early Interventions in Mental Health focused on “Prevention of Depression: Translating Research Into Practice.” This is the first version of a series of biennial conferences that aims to develop new and/or updated strategies and action plans, and seek to broaden the support for evidence-based prevention and promotion in mental health in Chile and Latin America; it was organized by the Child And Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Chile. Gladstone presented on the CATCH-IT program which utilizes an internet-based interactive system to prevent the onset of a depressive episode in at-risk teens.

Although surgical repair of fistula is associated with improvements in women’s quality of life and mental health, researchers have found even after being treated surgically to repair their fistula, many women still have difficulty engaging in family and community life. Tracy Gladstone, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist and Director of the Stone Primary Prevention Initiatives at WCW, traveled to Gondar, Ethiopia where she trained nurses to implement a new evidence-based depression prevention program being piloted at the University of Gondar Fistula Center. After initial planning meetings in Spring 2014, Gladstone and her team conducted onsite interviews in December with clinicians as well as patients who shared their knowledge about fistula; they talked about their current social support and coping strategies and expressed an interest in learning skills to manage their worries and feel better. After developing a protocol, Gladstone returned to Ethiopia in March 2015 and trained the clinicians (pictured below), providing follow-up support via web-based communications as the hospital team readied for implementation. This spring, data from the first two cohorts who took part in the cognitive behavioral therapy program, and from the clinicians who led the initiative at the hospital, have resulted in promising positive outcomes—depression symptom scores decreased substantially. Further program details will be included in the Fall/Winter issue of the Research & Action Report.

Layli Maparyan, Ph.D., Katherine Stone Kaufmann ’67 Executive Director of the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) and Professor of Africana Studies at Wellesley College, engaged with diverse youth groups in Berlin, Germany in January 2015 to discuss the meaning of Black History Month and how it can cultivate social change leadership, not only in the U.S. but also around the world. Sponsored by the U.S. Embassy Berlin, the week-long tour offered Maparyan the opportunity to deliver a lecture, “Building Cultures of Inclusion Across Race, Ethnicity, and Religion: Comparing Notes Across the U.S. and Germany and Cultivating Social Change Leadership,” and engage in discussions with students and faculty of the John F. Kennedy Institute at the Free University; at University of Stuttgart; and at Freiburg University. Within the framework of the “womanism” praxis, Maparyan outlined non-oppositional problem-solving tools and illustrated how simple, personal acts can create amity and inclusion from the personal all the way up to the institutional level. In Bonn, Maparyan presented “A Womanist Perspective on Development” at the University of Bonn/ZEF, and “Building Cultures of Inclusion across Race, Ethnicity, and Religion: Comparing Notes across the U.S. and Germany and Cultivating Social Change Leadership” at Bonn University. Her trip concluded with Black History Month: A Storytelling Evening at Jugendkirche and a community meeting at the Anne Frank Educational Centre.

Research & Action Report,Spring/Summer 2015

By Layli Maparyan, Ph.D.

This year we commemorate the 20th anniversary of an important milestone in the history of the global women’s movement: The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA). The BPfA was the outcome document of the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women, which took place in Beijing, China, in September, 1995, along with the parallel NGO Forum in Huairou, China. The U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women represented the culmination of two decades of international women’s mobilizations (in Mexico City, Copenhagen, and Nairobi) and announced the formation of a truly global women’s movement. The Beijing/Huairou events were attended by over 50,000 people. Thus, this 20th anniversary is an important time of both celebration and reflection, not only for those who attended the events, but also for all those who care about and work on the issues enshrined in the BPfA.

Research & Action Report, Fall/Winter 2015

By April Pattavina, Ph.D. and Linda M. Williams, Ph.D.

The Justice and Gender-Based Violence Research Initiative, led by Co-Directors Linda M. Williams, Ph.D., and April Pattavina, Ph.D., senior research scientists, was recently launched at the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW). Longtime followers of the Centers may recognize Williams, who was director of research at the Stone Center at WCW from 1996 to 2005. In that role, she led the Navy Family Study, a comprehensive approach to understanding the factors that affect successful and unsuccessful outcomes for Navy families involved with the family advocacy office, as well as the outcomes for adults and children exposed to domestic violence, child physical abuse, or child sexual abuse. Williams co-directed the National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center and continued her research on the long-term consequences and memories of child sexual abuse. Pattavina comes to WCW from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, where she collaborated with Williams and colleague Melissa S. Morabito, Ph.D., associate professor, on the national multi-site study of sexual assault case attrition through the criminal justice system that is described in the following interview. She brings an interest in applying advances in information and computer technology to the study of social problems. She has been invited to give presentations and workshops on the use of administrative data for policy analysis and received an award from The Boston Foundation for using data to drive community change.

Research & Action Report, Fall/Winter 2015

By Andrew Levack, M.P.H.

Every day I look at the bookshelf next to my desk which displays one my favorite bumper stickers. Its slogan, developed by the Wellesley Centers for Women, states that “a world that is good for women is good for everyone.” As someone who helps develop, implement, and evaluate prevention programs that work with young men, l couldn’t agree more. When we challenge sexism and disrupt patriarchy, everyone benefits—including boys and men.

Research & Action Report, Spring/Summer 2015

By Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D.

Given the immense public attention on cyber bullying amongst teens and that social media is intricately tied to adolescent daily behavior, it’s not surprising that the vast majority of studies on cyber bullying are conducted on youth under 18. A recent review¹ found that the highest incidence of cyber bullying in youth occurs during seventh and eighth grades—incidence that increases from elementary school, but decreases into the high school years. One might predict that since cyber bullying wanes in high school, that in college it would continue to wane. It was only until Pew’s recent study on online harassment in 2014—which demonstrated that the cyber harassment rate in young adults aged 18-24 can reach rates as high as 70 percent—that we can now see that young adulthood deserves more attention, academic inquiry, and public scrutiny.

Research & Action Report, Spring/Summer 2015

Sari Pekkala Kerr, Ph.D., arrived at the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) in 2010 as a deeply experienced senior researcher/micro economist. Her expertise and research accomplishments have significantly broadened the Centers’ reach into the economic implications of various government policies and marketplace realities, often with a particular focus on gender. As a micro economist, she typically studies the effects of such policies and realities on the lives of individuals, families, and children. She also brings to her work in the U.S. significant contributions from her continuing research of related issues in Europe, especially her native Finland. As a social democracy, that nation maintains a vast body of demographic statistics that has enabled her to study and quantify effects of various policies on millions of specific individuals. In some of her current work in the U.S., she seeks as far as possible to achieve an analogous breadth of scope.

Monica Driggers, research scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women, has been working on court and criminal justice reform for nearly a decade. Driggers joined the team working on the Battered Mothers’ Testimony Project in 2002 and was one of the authors of its ground-breaking report released that year. She continues to advocate for the reforms proposed in the report. Her current projects include research and reform of parole processes in Massachusetts and an investigation of female prisoners’ connections to their children.

Research & Action Report, Fall/Winter 2013

Interview with Beatrice Achieng Nas, BSC

Beatrice Achieng Nas, the founder and director of a non-governmental organization in Uganda, is a Community Solutions Program Fellow through the International Research & Exchanges (IREX) Board and a Visiting Scholar at the Wellesley Centers for Women for the fall 2013 semester.

Research & Action Report, Fall/Winter 2012

By Connie Gunderson, Ph.D.

Trafficking in human beings is the second most lucrative illegal activity worldwide. Human trafficking is an extreme example of social injustice perpetuated by dominant-subordinate attitudes that condone violence, resulting in significant suffering for individuals and harm to societies (Gunderson, 2012). It is a serious human rights violation and a low-risk, high-profit crime that is well hidden, underreported, under-prosecuted, and where trafficked persons experience extreme forms of physical and psychological violence and death.

Research & Action Report, Spring/Summer 2012

Wellesley College has joined the U.S. State Department and its sister colleges in presenting the inaugural Women in Public Service Summer Institute on Wellesley’s campus June 11-22, 2012. An integral part of the Women in Public Service Project, the pilot institute is a first-of-its-kind, two-week program that is training the next generation of women leaders.

Research & Action Report, Fall/Winter 2011

Interview by Susan Lowry Rardin

A lawyer armed with the law in the form of three UN Human Rights Conventions, Rangita de Silva-de Alwis, S.J.D. seeks to amplify women’s efforts on behalf of equality and justice. One of her recent leadership events, organized with Morocco’s Ministry of the Interior, was the “Rabat Roundtable: Women Leading Change in the Arab and Muslim Communities,” which was held late in the 2011 Arab Spring and involved women leaders from the Middle East/North Africa region. Her strategies, which focus especially on Asia and the Muslim/Arab communities, feature the building of networks of women’s organizations and the linking of interest groups—especially through the power of those international human rights Conventions, as she describes in this interview.

Research & Action Report, Fall/Winter 2014

An organization’s theory of change helps explain the process by which that organization’s activities contribute to desired outcomes. At WCW, we operate with a shared understanding that research, theory, and action all make vital contributions to the social-change process. High-quality research provides data about what is, tests theories about why, and evaluates what works, allowing us to see beyond opinion, to raise awareness about important issues, and make better investments in policies, programs, and practices that are effective. When change makers, decision makers, and opinion leaders are informed by rigorous research, their initiatives are more likely to be successful.

Research & Action Report, Fall/Winter 2014

In late October, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, the Wellesley Centers for Women, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and ETR announced new findings published in the Journal of School Health that show Planned Parenthood’s middle-school curriculum, Get Real: Comprehensive Sex Education That Works, helps kids wait until they are older to have sex. It is particularly effective for boys.

Research & Action Report, Fall/Winter 2014

by Sumru, Erkut, Ph.D.

Sumru Erkut, Ph.D., is a senior research scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women; she served as an Associate Director from 1995 to 2014. Her research has encompassed variations in the course of child and adult development, women and leadership, and educational program evaluation both in the U.S. and abroad.

In fall 2015, the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) launched the Justice and Gender- Based Violence Research (JGBVR) Initiative to build on its work advancing the role that research plays in improving the lives of women and girls, families and communities. Led by Senior Research Scientist Linda M. Williams, Ph.D., and an interdisciplinary group of collaborators, the JGBVR team conducts and disseminates research that meaningfully addresses the causes and consequences of gender-based violence and the social, health, and justice system responses to violent crime and victimization. To do this work, the initiative builds relationships with partners in the community, the criminal justice system, governmental and non-governmental organizations, international partners, and other researchers and institutes. Nine months later, the team has made great strides in linking its high-quality, gender-informed research with real action to improve the lives of women and girls in all roles of the criminal justice system—victims, offenders, workers, and policymakers.

A Special Women’s Review of Books Feature

Last year, Amy Hoffman, M.F.A., editor-in-chief, Women’s Review of Books (WRB) began thinking about the organizing by Black Lives Matter against police violence and other forms of racist oppression, the intersectional politics of this new movement, and its similarities and differences—in politics and strategies—from previous organizing. She decided to bring together (virtually, through email) a few older and younger Black women activists to talk about their experiences and ideas. A special roundtable discussion with Demita Frazier, J.D., Stacey Patton, Ph.D., Barbara Smith, and Mecca Jamilah Sullivan was featured in the March/April 2017 issue of WRB.