1976 International Conference on Women and Development
Wellesley College President Barbara W. Newell, Ph.D., with a conference participantInspired by the growing perception among scholars and policymakers that international development impacted women in unique ways, this conference—the first such gathering in the U.S.—attracted 117 women from 32 countries. Scholars of and from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East came together to share notes and join forces, all with the goal of shaping development discourse and practice to better account for differences among women. Many papers from this study, as well as commentaries on the conference itself, were published in a special issue of the feminist academic journal, Signs: Journal of Women and Culture in Society (Vol. 3, No. 7, Autumn 1977), edited by Catharine R. Stimpson. This momentous conference shifted both feminist discourse and development practice globally and can be considered a turning point in the move toward intersectionality.
Carolyn M. Elliott, Ph.D.
School-Age Childcare Project/National Institute on Out-of-School Time
In 1978, the School-Age Childcare Project was founded at the Center for Research on Women with start-up funding from the Ford Foundation. The project brought national attention to the importance of out-of-school time programming as a strategy to help mothers enter and stay in the workforce. The project was later renamed the National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) and has continued to focus on how OST programs can enhance the work of schools, especially in high-need communities, to improve children’s wellbeing, social-emotional learning, academic achievement, and life prospects. NIOST has also contributed to the sector-wide development of the OST workforce.
Michelle Seligson, Ed.M., Ellen S. Gannett, M.Ed., Joyce Shortt, M.Ed., Georgia Hall, Ph.D.
Relational-Cultural Theory
Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT) posits that healthy human development is growth through relationships and toward greater mutuality across the lifespan, and that relationality itself is powerfully shaped by culture. This theory challenged the masculinist notion that the goal of human development is movement toward greater individualism and independence. RCT grew from the early work of Jean Baker Miller, M.D., who wrote the groundbreaking 1976 book Toward a New Psychology of Women. The Jean Baker Miller Training Institute (JBMTI), which was founded in 1995 and originally housed at the Stone Center, taught thousands of people to apply RCT in clinical settings, educational institutions, organizations, and businesses around the world. RCT has been recognized by an editor at the American Psychological Association as “one of the top ten psychological theories today.”
Jean Baker Miller, M.D., Judith V. Jordan, Ph.D., Irene Pierce Stiver, Ph.D., Janet L. Surrey, Ph.D., Robin Cook-Nobles, Ed.D., Amy Banks, M.D., Maureen Walker, Ph.D.
Women’s Review of Books
Women’s Review of Books was founded in 1983 at the Center for Research on Women. Its mission was to give writing by feminist scholars and creative writers the serious critical attention it deserves; to promote women’s critical writing; and to act as a bridge between feminist scholars, writers, and activists by encouraging thoughtful discussion of new information, ideas, analyses, and experiences. The publication became the go-to resource for people interested in women’s literature, knowing they could find in-depth, original, thought-provoking discussion of the issues of the day between its pages.
Linda Gardiner, Amy B. Hoffman, M.F.A., Jennifer Baumgardner with Old City Publishing
SEED
SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) partners with communities, organizations, and institutions in bringing people together to learn through self-reflection, build relationships through structured dialogue, and create change through personal stories and systemic analysis. Since 1987, SEED has prepared more than 4000 leaders to facilitate monthly seminars at 1200 sites involving preK-12 and university educators, parent groups, and others in 45 U.S. states and 15 countries. SEED originally worked primarily with educators, in person, at one annual training, and has grown to include two virtual and two in-person New Leaders Trainings as well as follow-up ReSEED trainings for SEED leaders who want to hone their craft.
Peggy McIntosh, Ph.D., Emily Style, M.A., Brenda Flyswithhawks, Ph.D., Gail Cruise-Roberson, Emmy Howe, M.Ed., Jondou Chase Chen, Ph.D., Ruth Condori-Aragón, M.Ed., Motoko L. Maegawa, M.A.
Reach Out to Schools/Open Circle
Open Circle was founded at the Stone Center in 1987 to provide evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL) curricula and professional development for elementary and middle schools. Originally called the Framingham Schools Project and, later, Reach Out to Schools, it was one of the first programs in the nation to define SEL, launching an entire field and kickstarting a culture shift that transformed hundreds of schools across the United States into communities where students feel safe, cared for, and more engaged in learning. It also spurred U.S. schools to put more emphasis on the emotional wellbeing of the entire school community—teachers, administrators, staff, and students.
Pamela Seigle, M.S., Kim Comart, J.D., Kristen Handricken, Ed.M., Nancy MacKay, Nova Biro, M.B.A., Kamilah Drummond-Forrester, M.A., C.A.G.S.
White Privilege Essays
Peggy McIntosh’s 1989 essay, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” itemized examples from her lived experience in personal, accessible, and non-judgmental language. By making lists of unearned advantages she gained from being born white in a culture that favors white people, she inspired countless others to explore their own experiences of privilege and disadvantage. Her papers started a national and international conversation on white privilege and privilege systems more broadly—including discussions of gender, race, sexuality, and colonialism—and remain among the most widely cited sources on the topic of privilege. For these contributions and for founding the National SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) Project on Inclusive Curriculum, she received the Centennial Medal, the highest honor of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and was inducted into the U.S. National Women’s Hall of Fame.
NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development was a massive national effort from 1991–2009 to examine how differences in child care experience relate to children’s social, emotional, intellectual, and language development, and to their physical growth and health. It decisively answered the question of whether or not child care harms children, and, by implication, whether women could participate in the workforce without guilt—a key question of the women’s movement. The study revealed that childcare, particularly high-quality child care, does not harm children and, in some respects, is beneficial. The impact of this study on the lives of women and families at all levels of society was tremendous.
Nancy L. Marshall, Ed.D., Wendy Wagner Robeson, Ed.D., Kathryn A. Wheeler, Ed.D., Elizabeth Starr, M.Ed.
How Schools Shortchange Girls
This groundbreaking report, funded by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and published in 1992, challenged the assumption that girls and boys are treated equally in U.S. public schools. The study found that teachers pay less attention to girls than boys in the classroom. It also found that sexual harassment of girls by boys in school settings was increasing. With support from the Ford Foundation, author Susan McGee Bailey, Ph.D., attended the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 and distributed copies of the report in Spanish, French, and Mandarin. The report influenced U.S. federal legislation on programs for girls in science and math, shaped public discourse on gender and education, and led to new community-based programs for girls across the country.
Susan McGee Bailey, Ph.D., Lynn C. Burbridge, Ph.D., Patricia B. Campbell, Ph.D., Fern Marx, M.H.S.M., Peggy McIntosh, Ph.D.
Economics, Race, and Gender
In the 1990s, the work of Lynn C. Burbridge, Ph.D., focused on the impact of public policy on minorities, low-income women, and youth. She also studied trends in employment in the government, nonprofit, and for-profit sectors by race and sex. Her work painted a clearer picture of the segregation that existed in the job market and examined the implications for women’s earning power and ability to support themselves and their families.
Lynn C. Burbridge, Ph.D.
Justice and Gender-Based Violence Research Initiative
Since 1996, WCW has conducted and disseminated research that examines the causes and consequences of gender-based violence and the social, health, and justice system responses to violent crime and victimization. This work, which was formalized as the Justice and Gender-Based Violence Research Initiative in 2015, is built on the premise that research is a critical part of social change and that linking research, theory, and action will increase the impact on issues of justice that are critical to women and girls.
2004 International Research and Action Conference: Innovations in Understanding Violence Against Women
In 2004, WCW hosted a groundbreaking international conference on violence against women, with 140 participants working in 46 countries. By placing gender-based violence in global, cultural, and local community contexts, the conference participants took a unique stance focused on research and action. The conference design promoted dialogue and successfully fostered networking and the formation of collaborations across and within countries.
Linda M. Williams, Ph.D., Nan Stein, Ed.D.
Shifting Boundaries: Lessons on Relationships for Students in Middle School
Shifting Boundaries is an evidence-based, multi-level prevention program for middle school students on sexual harassment and precursors to dating violence. The program is unique in that it includes both school-wide interventions and classroom lessons. Funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) of the U.S. Department of Justice from 2005–2015, the researchers/authors developed all aspects of the program, trained teachers and staff to implement it with middle school students, and used surveys to gauge the effectiveness with students in New York City and the Cleveland suburbs over several years. Shifting Boundaries was one of only three sets of interventions found to be effective in a meta-analysis of 110 interventions conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2014, and was recognized by the Obama administration during Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month.
Nan Stein, Ed.D. with collaborator Bruce Taylor, Ph.D.
Critical Mass on Corporate Boards: Why Three or More Women Enhance Governance
In 2006, this study revealed that a critical mass of three or more women serving on a corporate board allows women to influence the content and process of board discussions more substantially than one or two women. The study found that, when there is a critical mass of women directors, boards are more likely to include the concerns of a wider set of stakeholders, to persistently pursue answers to difficult questions, and to bring a more collaborative approach to leadership. Since this study was published, companies and nonprofits have made more strenuous efforts to increase the number of women on their boards, and the number of women serving on boards has increased greatly.
Sumru Erkut, Ph.D. with collaborators Vicki W. Kramer, Ph.D., Alison M. Konrad, Ph.D.
Family, Sexuality, and Communication Research Initiative
Beginning in the 2010s, WCW’s research has investigated who teens talk to about sex and what they are talking about—and what effect those conversations have on teens’ decision-making down the road about sex and relationships. Among the groundbreaking findings are that fathers have an important role to play in their teens’ sexual health, and that teens often talk about sex and relationships with their extended families as well as with their parents. WCW also evaluates sex education programs to see if they are effective in changing teens’ sexual knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors.
Depression Prevention/Mental Health
Beginning in the 2010s, WCW’s studies showed that internet-based depression prevention programs could be effective for at-risk adolescents and their families. These are a game-changing tool in combating the youth mental health crisis in the U.S., especially at a time when there are not enough practitioners to meet the demand. Technology can be effective at preventing mental health issues before they start.
Tracy Gladstone, Ph.D., Katherine R. Buchholz, Ph.D. with collaborator Benjamin Van Voorhees, M.D., Ph.D.
2017 Gender, Social Justice, and Women’s Empowerment Conference in Cape Verde
WCW and the Centre for Research and Training in Gender and Family (CIGEF) at the University of Cape Verde (UniCV) organized a joint conference in Cape Verde in 2017. Academics, government officials, UN officers, and representatives of numerous NGOs and community-based organizations came together to discuss such topics as sexual- and gender-based violence, gender and health, rural vs. urban women, women’s access to non-traditional careers, womanism, and the relation between systems of care and social and economic empowerment. This conference provided an opportunity for diverse stakeholders and changemakers to share insights, discuss strategy, and form collaborations.
Wellesley Centers for Women, Centre for Research and Training in Gender and Family (CIGEF) at the University of Cape Verde (UniCV)
2017 Sex/Ed Conference in India
WCW and the Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality (CSGS) at Ashoka University in India collaborated to host an international conference exploring the relationship between sex, sexuality, and education in the context of a rich international history of discourse and activism. Topics included sexual harassment in the classroom, LGBTQ+ education and K-12 students, reproductive justice and anti-racist approaches to sex education, and human rights perspectives on sex work. Contributions from art, music, drama, dance, and popular culture showcased the role of the humanities in this multidisciplinary conversation.
Wellesley Centers for Women, Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality (CSGS) at Ashoka University
Youth, Media & Wellbeing
WCW’s studies on the effects of digital media on the health and wellbeing of children and teens were included in the American Psychological Association’s 2023 health advisory (and 2024 advisory update) on social media use in adolescence. The U.S. Surgeon General referenced this APA advisory in his 2023 advisory on protecting youth mental health as well as the Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab’s book chapter, “Marginalized Youth Using Digital Media.” Amidst a crisis of depression and anxiety among young people, the research conducted by the lab—founded in 2018—provides hard data about the nuanced role social media and smartphones play.
The Motherhood Penalty and the Fatherhood Premium
WCW’s studies on women’s earnings over the life cycle showed that when children get older, mothers can increase their work hours again—but they are never able to catch up to the earnings of fathers, who experience a “fatherhood premium” that gives them a lifetime advantage. These findings position employers, policymakers, and others to critically analyze gender pay gaps and find solutions that create gender pay equity. The work on the “motherhood penalty” was recognized with a Nobel Prize for economist Claudia Goldin, Ph.D.—a frequent WCW collaborator—in 2023.
