Heidi Hartmann, Ph.D.

About Heidi Hartmann

Heidi Hartmann is the President Emerita and Senior Research Economist at the Washington-based Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), a scientific research organization that she founded in 1987 to meet the need for women-centered, policy-oriented research. Dr. Hartmann is also a Distinguished Economist In-Residence for Gender and Economic Analysis at American University and serves as the Editor of the Journal of Women, Politics & Policy. Dr. Hartmann lectures internationally on women, economics, and public policy; frequently testifies before the U.S. Congress; and is often cited as an authority in various media outlets, such as CNN, ABC News, The New York Times, and PBS NewsHour. She has published numerous articles in journals and books and her work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. She is a co-author of several IWPR reports, including Women’s and Men’s Employment and Unemployment in the Great Recession; Still A Man’s Labor Market: The Long-Term Earnings Gap; Unnecessary Losses: Costs to Americans of the Lack of Family and Medical Leave; Equal Pay for Working Families, and Strengthening Social Security for Women. She served as Chair of the Board of the American Academy of Political Science, and Treasurer of the National Council of Women’s Organizations. Prior to founding IWPR, Dr. Hartmann was on the faculties of Rutgers University and the New School for Social Research and worked at the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. In 1994, Dr. Hartmann was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship Award for her work in the field of women and economics. She is an economist with a B.A. from Swarthmore College and M. Phil and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University, all in economics. She is the recipient of two honorary degrees. She was named a Charlotte Perkins Gilman Fellow by the American Academy of Political and Social Science in 2014, and in 2017 she received the Distinguished Career Award from the American Sociological Association.

Are Women Now Half the Labor Force? The Truth about Women and Equal Participation in the Labor Force

For more than a year the news media have been tracking the moment when women might become half the labor force. In spring 2009, it was said it might happen in the next few months, by summer it was said maybe it would happen in the fall.

By Ashley English, Heidi Hartmann and Jeff Hayes|2020-11-16T00:43:01-05:00March 31, 2010|IWPR|Comments Off on Are Women Now Half the Labor Force? The Truth about Women and Equal Participation in the Labor Force

Social Security: Vital to Retirement Security for 35 Million Women and Men

This Briefing Paper examines major sources of income for older Americans—earnings, Social Security, pensions and assets—by gender and marital status.

By Jeff Hayes, Heidi Hartmann and Sunhwa Lee|2020-12-23T01:00:29-05:00February 28, 2010|IWPR|Comments Off on Social Security: Vital to Retirement Security for 35 Million Women and Men

Women and Men’s Employment and Unemployment in the Great Recession

Since December 2007, the U.S. economy has been in the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Because much of the slowdown has occurred in traditionally male fields such as manufacturing and construction while a few traditionally female fields such as health and education have shown job growth or minimal job loss, many reports have focused on the job losses among men in the labor force.

Women at Greater Risk of Economic Insecurity: A Gender Analysis of the Rockefeller Foundation’s American Worker Survey

In February 2007, at the request of the Rockefeller Foundation, the consulting firm Yankelovich fielded a survey to explore Americans’ sense of economic insecurity.

By Vicky Lovell, Heidi Hartmann and Claudia Williams|2020-12-14T03:16:22-05:00April 30, 2008|IWPR|Comments Off on Women at Greater Risk of Economic Insecurity: A Gender Analysis of the Rockefeller Foundation’s American Worker Survey

Why Americans Worry About Retirement Security, and Why Women Worry More Than Men

This summary excerpts findings from a report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Women at Greater Risk of Economic Insecurity: A Gender Analysis of the Rockefeller Foundation's American Worker Survey.

By Vicky Lovell, Heidi Hartmann and Claudia Williams|2020-11-29T23:17:02-05:00April 30, 2008|IWPR|Comments Off on Why Americans Worry About Retirement Security, and Why Women Worry More Than Men

Still a Man’s Labor Market: The Long-Term Earnings Gap

The report uses data from a 15-year longitudinal study (from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics) and shows that over that period women earned 62 percent less than men, or only 38 cents for every dollar men earned.

By Stephen J. Rose and Heidi Hartmann|2021-06-13T19:58:07-05:00February 1, 2008|IWPR|Comments Off on Still a Man’s Labor Market: The Long-Term Earnings Gap

Older Women’s Economic Status in Texas

Social Security is a crucial source of income for Texas’s seniors, and especially so for women. Fewer women than men have pension income. The majority of Texas’s senior women live alone. Many seniors in Texas continue to work for pay. Women are more likely than men to be poor or disabled. Older African American and Hispanic women are the most likely to be poor and the least likely to have income from assets such as savings accounts or stocks and bonds.

By Barbara Gault, Heidi Hartmann, Tori Finkle and Sunhwa Lee|2020-11-11T22:35:15-05:00December 31, 2006|IWPR|Comments Off on Older Women’s Economic Status in Texas