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Zoe Marks | Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School

Women have always been key players in history, participating in war and mass movements and also seizing these openings to create social and political change. Yet patriarchy is still pervasive and women are often written out of the histories they help create. This talk examines the crucial role women’s inclusion plays in shaping the success of violent and non-violent uprisings, and the longer-term prospects for equality. Presenting new data on Women in Resistance (WiRe), I argue that women’s participation in frontline roles affects immediate movement outcomes, and also helps to achieve and consolidate gender equality in the years that follow. 

Zoe Marks is a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Her research and teaching interests focus on the intersections of conflict and political violence; race, gender and inequality; peacebuilding; and African politics. Dr. Marks holds a DPhil in Politics and MSc in African Studies from the University of Oxford, and a BA in Government and African American Studies from Georgetown University. Prior to joining the Kennedy School, she was a Chancellor’s Fellow and Lecturer (tenured) at the University of Edinburgh, where she directed the masters program in African Studies and was Director of the University's Global Development Academy. She has previously worked for UN and non-governmental organizations in Ethiopia, France, Sierra Leone, South Africa, the UK, and the US.