When our first-born declared that she was gender queer within days of turning 16, I had no idea that for months Elizabeth had been in the throes of an intense and painful internal struggle. Raised by two women, Elizabeth had come out as pansexual the year before, an announcement that had barely made a ripple […]

The Gulf state of Qatar has repeatedly promised to reform its much-criticized labor system. Yet two years after its government announced plans to make major changes, the raft of proposed reforms still has not been implemented. What explains the delays? It certainly cannot be chalked up to lack of international pressure. This March, the UN’s […]

The Harvard Kennedy Center for Public Leadership invited The Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy to conduct video interviews for the first American Adelante Conference at the Harvard Kennedy School. Cassandra Fradera, Senior Editor for Digital Content sat with Lisa García Quiroz, President of the Time Warner Foundation and Senior Vice President, Chief Diversity Office of […]

BY ANDREA BLINKHORN AND JONATHAN HUI Driving down Puritan Avenue in the Martin Park neighborhood in northwest Detroit, it’s hard not to feel a sense of emptiness. Many houses are boarded up and crumbling, lying in a state of long-time disrepair that belies the ornate architectural styles that used to define the city. A short […]

BY PITICHOKE CHULAPAMORNSRI During the first week at the Harvard Kennedy School, my orientation leaders encouraged us to download Venmo, a peer-to-peer money transfer app, which allows users to easily split bills at restaurants. Rather than giving the server multiple credit cards, one person can pay the bill, and the rest can just “Venmo” the […]

In 2009, Linsey Davis, a Black female correspondent for the ABC News, wrote a feature article for Nightline. She had one question: “Why are successful Black women the least likely than any other race or gender to marry?” Her story went viral, sparking a national debate. Within the year, social media, newsrooms, self-help books, Black […]

In a place that prices social currency through inclusion, I was surprised to hear cynicism sprinkled atop confusion from my staked-out study spot on the HKS campus. But here, sandwiched between office hours and problem sets, I again heard discussion of HKS’ new gender neutral bathrooms float through the halls. “I just don’t get ‘gender […]

Education policy in Singapore has attracted much attention of late. In the recent parliamentary speeches, Ms Denise Phua (MP, Jalan Besar GRC) commented on how the Direct Admission System disproportionally benefits wealthy families. Mr Png Eng Huat (MP, Hougang) also expressed worries about the billion-dollar tuition culture. A good primary education is perceived to be […]

  BY CHANTE LANTOS-SWETT On Monday, March 7, at 11:30 a.m., more than 3,000 students from schools all across the Boston Public School District stood up from their desks and joined their peers in front of the State House to protest a proposed $50 million cut to the 2016-2017 school year budget. Armed with protest […]

Problem Thirty-five percent of women worldwide have experienced sexual violence in their lifetimes[1]. In Nigeria, domestic violence is pervasive across socioeconomic and cultural contexts. Forty-five percent of affected women suffer abuse from their current husband or partner[2]. According to a US Department of State Human Rights Report, the practice of domestic violence has “remained widespread […]

BY NATALIE UNTERSTELL The world is currently watching Brazil fight the “longest recession in a century, the biggest bribery scandal in history, [and] the most unpopular leader in living memory,” and that’s not even counting the Zika virus epidemic. An equally severe but less visible crisis is also facing the country right now:  discrimination against […]

“Until very recently Singapore’s past was a matter of supreme indifference for most Singaporeans simply because they believed this island never really had a history worth remembering…” – S. Rajaratnam, ‘The Uses and Abuses of the Past’, 1984. A quick Google search for “slavery in Singapore” returns references to “Modern-day Slavery”, as many have termed […]