Ann F. Kaplan Women’s Initiative

Led by Jennifer Klein and Rachel Vogelstein, the IGP Ann F. Kaplan Women’s Initiative produces research and policy solutions in four areas critical to advancing women’s rights and opportunity in the United States and around the world: economic opportunity; health; safety and security; and leadership, democracy, and human rights.

Featured News and Events

Accelerating Efforts to End Child Marriage

Child Marriage Is a Human Rights Crisis — and Costs the World $175 Billion a Year. New Research Provides a Strategy to End It

The Women’s Initiative at Columbia SIPA’s Institute of Global Politics (IGP), together with the Center for Global Development (CGD), has released a new report titled Accelerating Efforts to End Child Marriage.

Experts Address the Escalating Threat of Online Violence Against Women in Public Life

IGP's Technology & Democracy Initiative and IGP's Women's Initiative convened an expert panel to discuss how governments, multilateral institutions, and technology companies can take action to address online violence, abuse, and harassment.

IGP Women’s Initiative Director Jennifer Klein speaks at Carefest

IGP Women’s Initiative Director Jennifer Klein spoke on a panel titled “Charting a New Course for Care Policy,” about the policy solutions needed to address the caregiving crisis in the United States.

SIPA’s Women’s Initiative Enters a New Era with a Transformational $15-million Gift

The Women’s Initiative at the Institute of Global Politics has been renamed the Ann F. Kaplan Women’s Initiative — a tribute to Ann Kaplan’s decades of transformative impact at Columbia University and her enduring commitment to advancing women’s rights and opportunities worldwide. The renaming reflects a generous gift from her family in her honor.

Research and Policy Solutions

We engage top Columbia faculty and scholars pursuing related interests and pair faculty with IGP Distinguished Fellows to develop strategic research projects and innovative policy solutions in key areas of focus.

Convenings

We bring together experts to raise awareness and address the most pressing issues affecting women and girls, engaging faculty, students, and alumni from across the university.

Partnerships

We forge partnerships to amplify our research and policy solutions, engage with local to global policymakers, and promote our work to the public.

IGP’s Ann F. Kaplan Women’s Initiative develops evidence-based strategies to advance gender equality in the United States and around the world. Drawing on the expertise of affiliated faculty from across Columbia University, the Ann F. Kaplan Women’s Initiative takes a comparative, cross-disciplinary approach to make unparalleled impact through research and policy solutions, convenings, and partnerships.

Our Areas of Focus

Women’s Economic Opportunity

We develop policy and research to improve women’s economic participation and promote growth, including by strengthening care infrastructure, eliminating the gender wage and wealth gap, and promoting women’s access to jobs in the industries of the future.

Women’s Health

We develop policy and research to improve women’s access to high-quality, affordable health care, including reproductive health and rights, addressing the maternal mortality and morbidity crisis, and understanding the health impact of climate change on women and girls.

Women’s Safety and Security

We develop policy and research to prevent and address gender-based violence wherever it occurs, both on- and offline, and promote security by increasing women’s participation in peace and security processes.

A panel on“Women Shaping Diplomacy” was one of the Summit’s highlights. [photo: Shahar Azran]

Women’s Leadership, Democracy, and Human Rights

We develop policy and research to close the gender gap in leadership, strengthen democracy through women’s political and civic participation, and advance human rights and gender equality under the law.

“In big ways and small, the unfinished business of the 21st century is the full equality of women.”

- Hillary Rodham Clinton, Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University; 67th Secretary of State and former Senator from New York; IGP Faculty Advisory Board Chair

Subscribe