From the 2008 News Archive

Professor Paula Monopoli Speaks on Gender, Constitutional Design and the 2008 Election

Professor of Law Paula Monopoli, Founding Director of the School of Law’s Women, Leadership & Equality Program, was one of 15 scholars invited to participate in the "Women in Political Leadership" roundtable held April 23 at the University of Maryland's James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership.

Monopoli, whose recent publications include "Gender and Justice: Parity and the United States Supreme Court" [8 Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law 43 (2007)] and "Gender and Constitutional Design" [115 Yale Law Journal 2643 (2006)], spoke about gender, the constitutional design of the U.S. electoral system, and the implications of the 2008 election for women and the Presidency.

"If Hillary Clinton is not the Democratic nominee this year, I don’t think we will see another woman who has the political wherewithal and machinery to run effectively for President in my lifetime," said Monopoli. "Back in 1981, when Sandra Day O’Connor was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, we thought there would be three or four women on the Court by now. Instead, we’re back to one."

The panel was moderated by James MacGregor Burns, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Presidential biographer, pioneer in the study of leadership, and namesake of the Burns Academy. Author of more than two dozen books, Dr. Burns has devoted his professional life to the study of leadership in American life. Dr. Burns' book, Leadership, published in 1978, is still considered the seminal work in the field of leadership studies.

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