Research Archives

What if Only Women Voted in the 2020 Election?

Editor’s Note: This post about how women voted in the 2020 election originally appeared on November 11, 2020, and has been updated to reflect our country’s new investments from the Biden-Harris Administration.

The question came up in my mind about 2020 women voters, and I see many other people have been tossing this question around in conversations online: What if only women voted in the 2020 election? Would it have been a much easier win for the Biden-Harris presidency?

2020 Election Results for Women Voters

If Only Women Voted, Biden-Harris Landslide Win

The answer is a resounding yes. The above graphic says it all. In the 14 states listed above and in many others, Biden would have won handily.

Kimberlé Crenshaw: How to Fund Women and Girls of Color

Editor’s Note: This interview was originally published in July, 2017.

I have spent the past few years observing, writing about, and getting more involved in the world of women’s philanthropy. During that time, multiple experts have referred to the work of Kimberlé Crenshaw as being essential to the changes we now see going on in philanthropy, with more efforts to apply both a gender and race lens when framing problems and funding new strategies.

Kimberle Crenshaw — Kimberlé Crenshaw, Professor, Columbia Law School and UCLA Law School, Co-Founder, African American Policy Forum

Indeed, with her scholarship, advocacy, and legal expertise, Crenshaw has helped build and disseminate whole new areas of knowledge including critical race theory and intersectional theory. These concepts have helped philanthropists like Peter Buffett and organizations like the NoVo Foundation apply an inclusive gender and race lens that values and addresses the needs of women and girls of color in the United States.

Research Alert: Why Women in Biz Are Using Fake Male Assistants

A recently revealed trend of female entrepreneurs using fake male assistants demonstrates how gender norms play out in business communication.

Kelly Doody of Social School. (Image Credit: Club Innovation Conference)

It is no surprise that women in business, especially those who are themselves entrepreneurs, face unique difficulties. A number of women have spoken out about this. A few women have even come out to reveal how they navigate these issues.

One way they have found helps their work is by having a fake male assistant who handles certain tasks.

Kelly Doody and Jandra Sutton are two such entrepreneurs who utilize this tactic. Doody is the CEO of Social School, and Sutton is a podcaster. Sutton revealed her use of a fake male assistant in a tiktok that went viral, seen here.

Brown’s Pembroke Center Receives $5M and New Director

The Brown University Pembroke Center, hub for research on gender, has received a $5M donation, bringing in a new director, Leela Gandhi.

Leela Gandhi will begin a three-year term as Director of the Pembroke Center on July 1st, 2021 (Image credit: Nick Dentamaro/Brown University)

On the eve of its 40^th anniversary, which it will mark during the 2021-22 academic year, Brown University’s Pembroke Center already has two big reasons to celebrate.

The Pembroke Center, a hub of research on gender and sexuality that brings together scholars from multiple fields of study, received its largest gift to date this spring. In July, it will welcome an accomplished humanities scholar as its new director, a role endowed for the first time ever by the new gift.

How One Corporate Wife Set a New Standard for HNW Divorce

One the founding benefactors of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute, Lorna Jorgenson Wendt, has a fascinating backstory, and I’m thankful to Sondra Shaw-Hardy for bringing her to my attention. This weekend, I did some reading and learned how Lorna was able to shake up the entire nation in the late 1990’s by fighting for her right to an equal share of the assets in divorcing her corporate CEO husband.

Lorna Jorgenson Wendt was married to Gary Wendt for 32 years. The two had been high school sweethearts in the Midwest, went to college together at the University of Wisconsin, and then married and moved to Cambridge, MA, where Lorna put Gary through business school for his MBA from Harvard. At the time, in a ceremony conducted by a Harvard Dean, Lorna and other Harvard student wives were awarded Ph.T certificates — honorary awards for “Put Hubby Through” college.

Check Out These Resources for Dancers to Recover Post-COVID

The Dance Data Project® has released its third Global Fellowships, Competitions, and Initiatives Guide, providing resources about opportunities in the field.

Dance Data Project® has taken COVID-19 and its effects on performers into account in the latest edition of the "Global Fellowships, Competitions, and Initiatives Guide". (Image credit: Dance Data Project®) — Dance Data Project® has taken COVID-19 and its effects on performers into account in the latest edition of the “Global Fellowships, Competitions, and Initiatives Guide”. (Image credit: Dance Data Project®)

Dance Data Project® (DDP) released its third annual “Global Fellowships, Competitions, and Initiatives Guide.” The Guide seeks to be a comprehensive, “one stop shop” for connecting choreographers, artists, and students with a wide array of exciting international opportunities in the dance field.

Firelight Finds Lack in Modern Philanthropy; We Can Do Better

A recent report from the Firelight Foundation urges modern philanthropy to transition to “community-driven systems change”.

Firelight Foundation urges the switch to "community-driven systems change", providing guidance to donors. (Image credit: Firelight Foundation) — Firelight Foundation urges the switch to “community-driven systems change” in its new report providing guidance to donors. (Image credit: Firelight Foundation)

International development funders and Global-North foundations and philanthropists have faced intense criticism as they struggled to deal with the challenges of the past year – from COVID 19, to racial justice, to the potential that the world may not realize the SDGs. Critics have accused global north donors of hindering community-led progress and perpetuating white supremacist, neo-colonial approaches to development.

How Has COVID-19 Affected Women in the Global South?

A new report from the Feminist Humanitarian Network has found a drastic decrease in funding for women in the Global South.

The Feminist Humanitarian Network has released a new report viewing the COVID-19 pandemic through a gender lens. (Image credit: Feminist Humanitarian Network)

The Feminist Humanitarian Network released new findings and recommendations from its “Women’s Humanitarian Voices: Covid-19 through a feminist lens” report examining the role of Women’s Rights Organizations (WROs) in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The report shows the solutions WROs established to overcome funding challenges that worsened for organisations representing women and girls in the Global South, and illustrates the patriarchal humanitarian and government systems WROs operate within that continue to exclude them from decision-making in crisis response and recovery planning. The report brings together key learnings from research in eight countries – Liberia, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Lebanon, Palestine, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

The Feminist Green New Deal: How Care Jobs Impact Climate Change

According to a new report, care work is integral to efforts toward decarbonization.

March for climate justice (Image credit: feministgreennewdeal.com)

Coming on the heels of debate about the Green New Deal proposed primarily by Senator Alexandria Occasio-Cortez, a similar coalition brief was released this month. The Feminist Green New Deal highlights the relation between climate change and the care industry.

Care and Climate: Understanding the Policy Intersections is co-authored by Lenore Paladino and Rhiana Gunn-Wright. The former is an Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The latter is the Director Climate Policy at the Roosevelt Institute.

Gender Equality: It’s Never Been Just for Women and Girls

Editor’s Note: Racial and gender equality won’t happen without men. The following conversation explores ways to help men and boys join movements for gender and racial equality.

Activist and philanthropist Suzanne Lerner, co-founder and CEO of Michael Stars, engages in a candid discussion with Ted Bunch, co-founder of A Call to Men (ACTM), an organization that she has supported for the past five years. ACTM works with the NFL, NBA, NHL, U.S. military, universities, and global corporations to educate and empower men and boys to become stronger allies for gender equality.

*Suzanne Lerner and Ted Bunch discuss the many ways we can empower men and boys to be drivers of racial and gender equality. (Image credit: Suzanne Lerner)*

We’re finally starting to see real money flow from companies and financial institutions to racial and gender equality initiatives.

Category: Research