Welcome Back!

Welcome back to campus and happy new (school) year! We're looking forward to another year of community and connection with gender scholars across campus.

Gender Policy Community Hour

Our first open community hour of the year will be held virtually on Friday, September 4th. All GW community members are welcome to join to discuss their current projects and network with fellow gender policy scholars. To be added to the community hour calendar invite, please fill out this form.

Mini Writing Retreat

Our first mini writing retreat of the year will be held Friday, September 18th! Join us for light refreshments, guided goal setting, several hours of quiet writing time, and a guided reflection. We will write from 9am-12pm then break for a brown bag lunch. Register here.

Summer Blog Series Recap: AI for Policy People

This summer, the GPRP blog featured pieces on various topics at the intersection of AI and public policy, exploring the intersectional impacts of this rapidly evolving technology. Here's what we've discussed this summer:

What is AI? How Does it Work?

It is imperative that we understand how these models work and what they can and cannot do. These models are not reading, understanding, thinking, searching, or feeling; they are just doing math.

AI is Biased & Manipulable

Once we understand how these models work, we can explore the biases these models have inherited from their training data, how they're being manipulated internally, and how external actors are working to shape their outputs and manipulate their users.

The Intersectionality Gap: Why AI Fails Moderation of Online GBV and Disinformation

This guest blog by Dr. Dhanaraj Thakur, director of the Emerging Technologies Initiative at the Law School's Multiracial Democracy Project, explores the ways in which AI-powered content moderation systems struggle with intersectionality.

AI in Hiring & Employment

A significant majority of U.S. firms use AI tools at some point in the hiring process. In this blog, Dr. King explores AI resume generation, AI resume and candidate review, AI job interviews, and competence penalties faced by women who use AI at work.

AI in Healthcare

In the fractured and complex American healthcare system, companies are rushing to fill unmet healthcare needs with a variety of AI tools. In this blog Dr. King discusses the good, the bad, and the ugly of AI in healthcare. She then reflects on her personal experience conducting research on LLMs for contraceptive counseling.

AI in Policing & Law Enforcement

AI tools are giving law enforcement officers unprecedented power. When these tools get it wrong, the consequences are serious. In this blog, Dr. King discusses the use of AI in policing and law enforcement, focusing on facial recognition and automated license plate readers (ALPRs).

Check out the full series here and follow us on LinkedIn to receive updates about the series.

Events

Gender Policy Community Hour

Friday, September 4th at 12pm | Virtual

All GW community members are welcome to join to discuss their current projects and network with fellow gender policy scholars.

Refresh & Respond: Equal Opportunity and Title IX for Returning Students

Monday, September 7th at 3pm | Virtual

Join us for a brief Zoom session where we will offer a review of GW's processes and resources around discrimination and harassment, including sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating and domestic violence, and stalking. 

Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Happy Hour

Friday, September 11th at 4pm | Tonic
Join us for a happy hour with WGSS students and faculty! We will buy a few appetizers to share, but if you would like a drink please buy your own. Feel free to drop in or stay the whole time! RSVP here

Washington Spirit Game with GWI & WGSS

Sunday, September 13th at 1pm | Audi Field

Meet GWI affiliated faculty and staff, colleagues and allies from across the GW community and students working on issues related to gender equality and women’s rights while cheering on the Washington Spirit! This event is open to all GW students, faculty and staff. Please RSVP using your GW email address to receive a formal ticket link and access the reduced ticket price.

Religion in Asia: The Politics of Laughter: Gender, Superstition, and Imperial Legacies in the Maoist Revolution

Tuesday, September 15th at 12:25pm | Elliott School

Crossing the political divide of 1949, this talk examines the political uses of laughter and ridicule in Maoist campaigns against “feudal superstition.” Specifically, it analyzes how the Maoist revolution selectively appropriated gendered tropes and rhetorical strategies from China’s imperial past and repurposed them for new political ends. 

Mini Writing Retreat for Gender Scholars

Friday, September 18th at 9am | MPA Building

Join us for light refreshments, guided goal setting, several hours of quiet writing time, and a guided reflection.

GW Center for Law & Technology Speaker Series: Prof. Mike Schuster

Monday, September 21st at 12pm | Law School

In this project, we employ a novel dataset to first examine whether attorney gender correlates with patenting outcomes, building on prior work finding that female inventors secure patents at disproportionately low rates. We then extend the analysis to attorneys' technical backgrounds, asking whether patenting outcomes improve when attorneys prosecute applications in their own fields of technical education. (FREE LUNCH!)

Humanities in Asia: Women’s Trans Cinema in Taiwan: “As We Like It”

Wednesday, September 23rd at 2pm | Elliott School

As We Like It (Jieda huanxi, 2021) is an important milestone for Taiwanese women’s cinema. Shot on the heels of the 2019 legalization of same-sex marriage in Taiwan, As We Like It envisions a post-gender future. Join Professor Joubin for this illustrated presentation and discover the latest in women’s cinema. (FREE LUNCH!)

Conversations on Food Justice: The People Who Feed Us: Building a Fairer Food System

Thursday, October 1st at 1pm | Virtual

 Bringing together perspectives from across the food system, this conversation will explore approaches that could shift power and opportunity across the food economy—from stronger labor standards and wage policies to emerging models such as employee ownership.

Opportunities

Publication Opportunities:

Transgender Studies Quarterly

TSQ is seeking papers for their next general issue (due 10/9). 

Work Opportunities:

Program Assistant, Child Care and Income Security, National Women's Law Center

The National Women’s Law Center seeks a Program Assistant to provide administrative and program support for the Child Care & Income Security team. The Program Assistant is an integral member of the Child Care and Income Security team and supports the team’s programmatic work, which addresses a wide range of issues including child care and other care-related policies; tax and budget policy; income supports such as nutrition assistance and other basic needs programs; and Social Security and retirement. 

Research Associate, Race & Ethnicity, Pew Research Center

The Center is seeking a Research Associate to help study how Americans understand and experience issues related to race and ethnicity and/or immigration. We are looking for a seasoned survey researcher or pollster who is skilled at translating complex topics into accessible survey questions and rigorous analysis. The Research Associate will play a central role in developing questionnaires, analyzing survey and secondary data, identifying compelling findings, creating charts and tables, and helping communicate results to journalists, policymakers, researchers and the broader public.

Policy Analyst, Economic Policy, Center for American Progress

American Progress is seeking a Policy Analyst to support its Economic Policy team’s efforts to promote an economy that works for all. The Policy Analyst position requires strong quantitative and writing skills; experience working with economic data; and an interest in making compelling, evidence-based public policy arguments.

Research Assistant or Research Associate, Health and Housing Policy, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

The Research Assistant or Research Associate (RA) will sit on CBPP’s Data Analysis and Research team and will support work across the Health Policy (roughly 70 percent) and the Housing and Income Security teams (roughly 30 percent) with analysis and research, especially quantitative analysis.  

Campaigns Associate, National Women's Law Center

The Campaigns Associate, centered on the Campaigns & Communications team, will work with a team of people to support the implementation of compelling, creative, and effective issue advocacy campaigns using both digital and on-the-ground tools and strategies across issue areas of NWLC. 

Fall Internship Opportunities:

Fall 2026 Strategy & Policy State Team Intern, National Women's Law Center

The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) seeks an undergraduate intern for Fall 2026 to support the Center’s work building the State Gender Policy Collective.

Fall 2026 Income Security Legal Intern, National Women's Law Center

The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) seeks a law student intern for fall 2026 to support NWLC’s work advocating to increase the economic security of women and families with low incomes. 

Fellowship Opportunities:

The Huber Reproductive Health Equity Legal Fellowship, National Partnership for Women & Families

This is a one-year fellowship offering recent law school graduates a professional development opportunity focused on federal reproductive health policy and law. The Fellow will work with the Health Justice and Congressional Relations teams on various issues around advocacy for reproductive health, rights, and justice. Areas of focus will include abortion access and coverage, contraception and other sexual and reproductive health issues, as well as related intersectional issues.

Ann Kolker Fellow - Health Equity and Contraceptive Access, National Women's Law Center

The National Women’s Law Center is seeking a fellow or legal fellow focused on health equity and contraceptive access. This role will support the Center’s legal, litigation, and policy work on health equity and contraceptive access, with a focus on BIPOC, women with few financial resources, and women who face intersectional and other barriers to care. This role will be on the Center’s Reproductive Rights and Health team and is a full-time, one-year term-limited position, to begin in fall 2026. 

Submit Your Writing

Have a policy brief, report, resource, commentary piece, or course paper that you're interested in publishing? Fill out our writing submission form and we will reach out!

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