Meet Politics and Gender Expert Dr. Caroline Heldman

Jun 18, 2025

2025, Announcements, Events

The Women in Power Spaces event team is pleased to announce that Dr. Caroline Heldman will kick off our September 5, 2025 Convening with a deep dive into what needs to happen for the United States to elect a female President and how we can stop women being punished for seeking power.

“We define leadership in very masculine terms, uniquely so for the U.S. presidency, women candidates must be ‘properly masculine’ to be seen as viable leaders, but the moment they project this, they’re penalized by many people for ‘violating’ traditional norms of femininity. They’re ‘damned if they do and damned if they don’t,’ and so far, no woman has figured out how to crack the code on this impossible standard.” Dr. Caroline Heldman, Chair of the Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies Program at Occidental College

Ms. Magazine published this very enlightening conversation with Dr. Heldman and Jackson Katz: “Elections as ‘Manhood Competitions’: Feminist Political Scientists Reckon With Harris’ Loss.” It’s a must read.

Biography

Dr. Caroline Heldman is a political scientist and chair of the gender, women and sexuality studies program at Occidental College in Los Angeles. She is also president and CEO of Stand With Survivors, and a political commentator for Spectrum News and CNN.

Heldman earned her Ph.D. from Rutgers University and a certificate in executive leadership from the Harvard Business School. She has published eight books, including Women, Power, and Politics: The Fight for Gender Equality in the United States (Oxford University Press) and Sex and Gender in the 2016 Presidential Election. Her work has been featured in numerous documentaries, including Miss Representation and The Mask You Live In.

Dr. Heldman co-founded the New Orleans Women’s Shelter, the Lower Ninth Ward Living Museum, End Rape on Campus (EROC) and Faculty Against Rape (FAR) and led the campaign that overturned the time limit on prosecuting rape in California. She is the board president of the TEP Center, the first civil rights museum in New Orleans, and the chair of the board of Alturas Institute, a nonprofit fighting for stronger democracy.