Policy Briefs
Rethinking Policy on Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Issues
In 2010, CSW initiated a new series of publications to address policy issues in our mission areas of gender, sexuality, and women’s issues. CSW Policy Briefs comprise outstanding applied feminist scholarship by graduate students.
2019-2020 Policy Briefs
Download the 2019-2020 CSW Policy Briefs
In 2019, CSW collected Policy Briefs on the theme “Confronting the Carceral State, Reimagining Justice.” The call for submissions was developed by CSW Director Grace Hong and the Black Feminism Initiative Director Sarah Haley. The review committee included Erwin Chemerinsky (Dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law), Amy Ritterbusch (UCLA Department of Social Welfare, Luskin School of Public Affairs), Stephanie Davidson (UCLA School of Law), and Dylan Rodríguez (UC Riverside Department of Media and Cultural Studies).
Six briefs were collected from UC graduate students and system-impacted individuals:
- Release Elderly Lifers to Reduce Mass Incarceration by Jane Dorotik
- Long-Term Incarcerated People Need Retirement Benefits by Romarilyn Ralston with Ginny Oshiro and Fidelia Santos-Aminy
- Unequal Punishment: Repealing Felony Murder Special Circumstances by Joanne Scheer
- Ensuring Access to Rehabilitative Programs and Ending Discrimination Against People Serving Life Without Parole by Rosie Stockton
- Stop “Crimmigration!” Stop Southeast Asian Refugee Deportations! by June Kuoch
- Incarceration and Mental Wellness are Incommensurable – A Call to Decarcerate by Boké Saisi
2018-2019 Policy Briefs
Download the 2018-2019 CSW Policy Briefs
In 2018, CSW solicited Policy Briefs on the topic Addressing Sexual Violence, Achieving Justice: Shelter, Intersectionality, and Sexual Harassment Policy. The call for submissions was developed with Grace Hong and Jessica Cattelino of CSW’s Sexual Violence Faculty Working Group. In addition to Professors Hong and Cattelino, the selection and review committee included Bianca Wilson (Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law), Christy Mallory (Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law) and Noah Zatz (Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law).
Two briefs were honored with the CSW Policy Brief Prize, and one received an honorable mention:
- Addressing the Epidemic of Sexual Assault in California’s Immigrant Detention Centers by Cristina Hunter O’Leary
- Immigrant Farmworkers in California Need Greater Protections Against Sexual Harassment by Elise Wallis
- Restorative Justice for Curbing Campus Sexual Violence by Domale Dube Keys
2011-2017 Policy Briefs
For the first set of CSW Policy Briefs, we partnered with Michelle Johnson, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Welfare and a CSW Faculty Affiliate, on the development of a call for graduate student policy brief submissions in the area of “Food In/Security: Local, National, or Global Problems and Solutions.” Several students submitted briefs and three were selected for publication. In addition, Graduate Student Researchers, Dayo T. Spencer-Walters and Jackie Hunt, working on CSW’s “Women in Social Movements in Los Angeles, 1960-1999” project also prepared briefs.
For the second set of briefs, we put out a call for policy recommendations in the area of “LGBT Youth At Risk: Education, Health and Safety.”
The third set of briefs focuses on “Women’s Reproductive Health Policy in California.” For these briefs, we partnered with Julie Elginer, a well-known Health Policy Advocate and a Teaching Associate for Master’s-level courses at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
The fourth set focuses on “Women in the Informal Economy: Global Challenges, Local Solutions.” For these briefs, we partnered with Chris Tilly, Professor in the Department of Public Policy and Director of the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. Two CSW Graduate Student Researchers, Skye Allmang and Radhika Mehlotra, also prepared briefs.
The fifth set of briefs was published in conjunction with CSW’s Chemical Entanglements research initiative. UCLA Graduate Students Teniope Adewumi-Gunn, Melissa Kelley, and Isa Arriola authored briefs on chemical exposure and personal care products, while CSW Graduate Student Researcher Gracen Brilmyer collaborated with CSW Program Coordinator Alexandra Apolloni on a brief about exposure and accessibility on university campuses. We thank Professor Tim Malloy for assisting in reviewing these briefs.
All briefs are also available for download at CSW’s site at the California Digital Library.
2016-2017: Chemical Entanglements: Gender, Chemicals, and the Public Health
2015: Women in the Informal Economy: Global Challenges, Local Solutions
2013: Women’s Reproductive Health Policy in California
2012: LGBT Youth At Risk: Education, Health and Safety
2011: Food In/Security: Local, National or Global Problems and Solutions
