Cynthia Harrison

Cynthia Harrison focuses on women and public policy, with particular focus on the current constitutional status of women, the long-term impact of the women's movement, the need to resolve the issue of child care and women's work, and the policy goals of feminist organizations concerning poor women. Her current book project, tentatively entitled Race, Class, Feminism and the American Policy Crucible, 1966-2000, examines the interaction between the U.S. political system and exponents of the feminist policy agenda with respect to measures affecting poor and minority women. She teaches courses in women's history, women and public policy, and constitutional history, and she is a member of the DC Commission on Women. (Complete C.V.)

Selected Publications

"Creating a National Feminist Agenda: The Women's Action Alliance and Feminist Coalition Building in the 1970s." In Feminist Coalitions: Historical Perspectives on Second-Wave Feminism in the United States, ed. Stephanie Gilmore, 19-47. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2006.

"'A Revolution But Half Accomplished': The Twentieth Century's Engagement with Child-Raising, Women's Work, and Feminism." In The Achievement of American Liberalism: The New Deal and Its Legacies, ed. William H. Chafe, 243-274. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003.

"Constitutional Equality for Women: Losing the Battle/Winning the War." In Constitutionalism and American Culture: Writing the New Constitutional History, ed. Sandra VanBurkleo et al., 174-210. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press, 2002.

• Reprinted in abridged form as "'Heightened Scrutiny': An Alternative Route to Constitutional Equality for U.S. Women." In Women and the U.S. Constitution: History, Interpretation and Practice, ed. Sibyl A. Schwarzenbach and Patricia Smith, 347-364. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003.

On Account of Sex: The Politics of Women's Issues, 1945 to 1968. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.

Courses Taught

Hist 140: Women in the United States: 1865 to the Present
Hist 175: U.S. Constitutional History
Hist 273: Readings on Women in American History

Education

Ph.D., Columbia University, 1982.