February 06, 2024

CAWP is proud to announce the 2024 call for applications for the Ruth B. Mandel Dissertation Research Awards. These awards – established in honor of CAWP co-founder and director Ruth B. Mandel and made possible thanks to the generosity of Ruth's family – support dissertation research on women, gender, and U.S. politics. Eligible recipients include advanced doctoral students from any relevant discipline at U.S.-based institutions who have successfully defended their dissertation proposal. We encourage applications from scholars who are traditionally underrepresented in the academy, and we welcome applications for research that analyzes gender in addition to or in conjunction with other categories such as race/ethnicity, class, immigration status, gender identity, and sexual orientation.

Up to four Ruth B. Mandel Dissertation Research Awards are awarded annually, with the expectation that at least one award will be designated for a Rutgers University student. The application deadline for 2024 awardees will be May 15, 2024. Learn more about eligibility, requirements, and award details and submit an application here.

Our reduced rates for Ready to Run® New Jersey 2024 are available until February 12th! Are you launching a campaign for office? Looking for ways to engage with government or deepen your political involvement? Register before February 12th and save 25% on your Ready to Run® registration fees!

Ready to Run® New Jersey will take place on March 15th and 16th at the Douglass Student Center on the Rutgers–New Brunswick campus. In addition to workshops and panels devoted to critical topics like media training, campaign finance, digital outreach, New Jersey’s party system, and more, our Ready to Run® diversity initiatives, which take place on March 15th, have specifically tailored programs for Asian American/Pacific Islander women, Black women, and Latinas led by political practitioners and officeholders. Learn more about the 2024 Ready to Run® New Jersey agenda here.

Last weekend, CAWP Associate Director Jean Sinzdak and Director of Research Kelly Dittmar participated in a leadership retreat hosted by Family Values @ Work's OASIS initiative. This cohort-based project provides programming and support for women state legislators. 

Dittmar presented from CAWP’s recent report, Rethinking Women's Political Power, and used the research to engage in a guided discussion with women political leaders about gender and political power. Sinzdak facilitated a power-mapping exercise with the women legislators, helping them identify strategies for navigating power to achieve their professional goals. 

The OASIS program offers a model for building support infrastructure for women political leaders after they are first elected, which our research has identified as a site of critical opportunity for expanding women’s political potential.

The Brennan Center for Justice released a new report recently that described the ongoing issue of abuse and harassment of political leaders. The project, which included among its advisors CAWP Senior Scholar Kira Sanbonmatsu and Visiting Practitioner Kimberly Peeler-Allen, included surveys and interviews of officeholders to capture the intimidation they encounter. Among their key findings:

• Forty-three percent of state legislators experienced threats.
• Eighteen percent of local officeholders experienced threats.
• Women were three to four times as likely as men to experience abuse targeting their gender.
• Officeholders of color were more than three times as likely as white officeholders to experience abuse targeting their race.
• Women serving in state legislatures were nearly four times as likely as men to experience abuse of a sexual nature.
• More than 40 percent of local officeholders said they were less willing to run for reelection or higher office at the time they were surveyed because of abuse.
• For women, the rates of possible attrition are higher, with approximately half saying they were less willing to continue serving.



Read the full report at the Intimidation of State and Local Officeholders page.

Our friends at Vote Mama Foundation released a new report on the growth in the use of campaign funds for childcare. The report tracks data on the use of campaign funds for childcare from 2018 to 2022 and finds that the practice has vastly increased by both federal (+662%) and state and local (+2,156%) candidates. “Running for office should not be a privilege solely awarded to those who are independently wealthy and well-connected,” the report states. “Campaign finance reform can break down financial and structural barriers that prevent candidates from running , and presents an exciting avenue for continued research on how to increase representation among marginalized groups.”

Read the full report here.