Heidi Hartmann, Ph.D.

Heidi Hartmann is the director of the Washington-based Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR),

an independent, non-profit, scientific research organization, which she founded in 1987 to inform and

stimulate debate on issues of critical importance to women. She is an economist with a B.A. from

Swarthmore College and M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University, all in economics.

At IWPR Dr. Hartmann has co-authored several reports, including: The Impact of Social Security Reform

on Women; Unnecessary Losses: Costs to Americans of the Lack of Family and Medical Leave; Women’s

Access to Health Insurance; and Combining Work and Welfare: An Antipoverty Strategy. She has also

authored or co-authored numerous journal articles on issues such as welfare reform, pay equity and

women’s wages.

Dr. Hartmann has delivered Congressional testimony on a variety of issues and lectures widely on public

policy, feminist theory, and the political economy of gender to women’s organizations, community, labor

and business groups, and universities.

While holding an American Statistical Association fellowship at the Census Bureau, Dr. Hartmann

conducted research on women’s poverty. She was on staff at the National Research Council/National

Academy of Sciences for eight years, where she served as the associate executive director of the

Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education and contributed to numerous reports on

women’s employment issues. Dr. Hartmann has held various positions at Rutgers University, the New

School for Social Research, and George Washington University.

In 1994, Dr. Hartmann was the recipient of a MacArthur fellowship award, commonly referred to as the

"genius grant," in recognition of her pioneering work in the field of women and economics. She is also the

recipient of an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Swarthmore College and the Wilbur Cross Medal for

distinguished alumni of the graduate school of Yale University.

Dr. Hartmann is currently the chair of the National Council of Women’s Organizations’ Task Force on

Women and Social Security. She has participated in numerous panels, forums, debates, and media

interviews addressing the issue of Social Security reform and the impact various plans will have on

women.

Dr. Hartmann also serves on the board of the Coalition on Human Needs and the Steering Committee of

the National Committee on Pay Equity and is the co-chair of the Economists’ Policy Group on Women’s

Issues.