Jennifer Clark

Jennifer Clark is the Development Coordinator for the Institute for Women's Policy Reseach, where she manages IWPR’s Information Network of individual members and organizations and has also helped strengthen IWPR’s social media and web presence.

Posts Written by Jennifer
By Jennifer Clark • 11 years ago

In Memoriam: Mariam K. Chamberlain, 1918–2013

Dr. Mariam K. Chamberlain, a founding member of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) and the founding president of the National Council for Research on Women (NCRW), was the driving force behind the cultivation and sustainability of the women’s studies field of academic research. She is the namesake of IWPR’s prestigious Mariam K. Chamberlain Fellowship for Women in Public Policy, which trains young women for successful careers in research. Throughout her life, Dr. Chamberlain fought discrimination, established new roles for women, and championed the economic analysis of women’s issues. She passed away on April 2, 2013, at 94, just a few weeks shy of her 95th birthday, following complications from heart surgery.

A Lifetime of Lifting Up Women’s Voices in Academia and Research

The daughter of Armenian immigrants, Mariam Kenosian Chamberlain was born and raised in Chelsea, Massachusetts, a working class suburb of Boston. Interest in the prevailing conditions of the depression led her to economics. She attended Radcliffe College on a scholarship and worked as a research assistant in the summers for Wassily Leontief, who later won the Nobel Prize in economics. During World War II, she worked at the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), on the staff of a “brain trust” of economists and other social scientists assembled by General William (“Wild Bill”) Donovan to aid in the war effort. As part of the research and analysis branch, she worked on estimates of enemy, military, and industrial strength.

In 1950, Mariam Chamberlain received her Ph.D. ...
By Jennifer Clark • 11 years ago

Leaning in, lifting up, and making success achievable for all women

A little over 25 years ago, Dr. Heidi Hartmann dashed between meetings and a part-time fellowship in a 1969 Buick with a couple of boxes of files dedicated to research on women’s economic security in the back of a rather sizable trunk. This corner of Dr. Hartmann’s Buick can safely be referred to as the first unofficial office of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR). The meetings she shuffled between were to unearth funding here and there for gender analysis on women’s role in a modern workforce. With a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale, Dr. Hartmann began her research career at National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council studying the underpayment of jobs typically done by women (for example, secretary, ...

A little over 25 years ago, Dr. Heidi Hartmann dashed between meetings and a part-time fellowship in a 1969 Buick with a couple of boxes of files dedicated to research on women’s economic security in the back ...
By Jennifer Clark • 12 years ago

Social Security on the Rocks: What’s at Stake for Younger Women

For many young working women, retirement security rests at the bottom of a lengthy priority list loaded with seemingly more pressing concerns. These include finding a satisfying, well-paying job, negotiating a raise and, for many, juggling family responsibilities with career advancement. Social Security, a government program associated with older Americans, might seem even more abstract to demographic whose retirement years are quite a few decades away. But as a panel of experts explained to an engaged crowd of young professional women recently, women face unique challenges in retirement and, for women of all ages, the future of Social Security is a shared concern.

The panel—hosted by the Women’s Information Network (WIN), a professional network of women in Washington, DC—featured young ...

For many young working women, retirement security rests at the bottom of a lengthy priority list loaded with seemingly more pressing concerns. These include finding a satisfying, well-paying job, negotiating a raise and, for many, juggling family ...
By Jennifer Clark • 13 years ago

Dukes v. Wal-Mart and the Importance of Class Action Lawsuits

The Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday to decide whether the lower courts rightly certified the women at Wal-Mart as a class. According to Wal-Mart’s own salary data, women at Wal-Mart earn on average $1,100 per year less than men, differences that cannot be explained by experience or performance, and that women are much less likely to get promotions than men.

An unprecedented number of amicus curiae (or ‘friend of the court’) briefs were submitted to the court, from groups as varied as the Chamber of Commerce, the NAACP, and the American Sociological Association, as well as the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Below is a roundup of resources that break down what is at stake, not just for the million-plus ...

The Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday to decide whether the lower courts rightly certified the women at Wal-Mart as a class. According to Wal-Mart’s own salary data, women at Wal-Mart earn on average $1,100 per year ...