In 1971, when Ruth Mandel and Ida F.S. Schmertz launched the Center for American Women and Politics, they faced many questions about the need for their work. While only 12 women were serving in the U.S. Congress, Mandel and Schmertz saw feminism’s second wave beginning to crest and were confident that more women would be elected to office and draw likeminded scholars to the new center. Fifty years later, CAWP is nationally recognized as the leading source of scholarly research and data about women’s political participation in the United States – which now includes 143 women serving in the 117th U.S. Congress. Pictured, from left, are Professor emerita Susan Carroll, Debbie Walsh, director, and Kimberly Peeler-Allen, visiting practitioner, with the Center for American Women and Politics at Eagleton Institute of Politics. More.
|