The Women's Leadership Board, led by effective and committed Chairs, Jean Minskoff Grant, Janice Weinman Shorenstein, and Roxanne Mankin Cason, collaborated with the Harvard Kennedy School faculty and administrative leadership to chronicle a remarkable array of accomplishments since its founding.
Major accomplishments:
Initial funding from the WLB made possible the creation of the Women and Public Policy Program (WAPPP) at the Harvard Kennedy School and the recruitment of its Founding Director, Ambassador Swanee Hunt. With WAPPP and the Harvard Kennedy School leadership, the WLB helped transform the culture and orientation of the Harvard Kennedy School regarding gender. New classes, curriculum, study cases, speaker series, internships and research have enhanced the visibility of and opportunities for women within the school. The Harvard Kennedy School is now the leading academic institution of its kind focused on the training of women leaders and the study and promotion of global policies related to women.
The Women's Leadership Board:
- Enabled and supported the launch of the innovative program, Women Waging Peace - Women and Inclusive Security, which has created a network of over 500 Harvard University-trained peace builders in over 40 conflict zones around the world. WLB members now actively mentor and assist these courageous women in varied ways around the world. Among this network are President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, four cabinet ministers, senators and parlimentarians who are literally changing the face of leadership in countries from Rwanda to Afghanistan.
- Support allowed the Harvard Kennedy School to host and incubate the nascent Council of Women World Leaders (CWWL), the body of living female heads of State and Government. With the CWWL, the WLB hosted two summits of women world leaders and helped establish a secretariat of women cabinet ministers.
- Catalyzed and helped develop the first Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education program for women, Women and Power.
- Support has stimulated a ten-fold expansion of faculty research on gender. From early groundbreaking research on Girls and Technology to global studies on women and political participation, WLB grants have allowed scholars to pursue previously marginalized topics.
- Members have mentored, provided career sessions and networking advice to over 1000 Harvard Kennedy School women students since the Board's founding.
- Contributed over $10M to the Harvard Kennedy School to enable it to optimize its potential for the benefit of women and girls around the world.