Biography

Denise Walsh (PhD, New School for Social Research) is Associate Professor of Politics and Women, Gender & Sexuality. Her research focuses on how liberal democracies can become more inclusive and just. Walsh’s current book project is on multiculturalism and women's rights in Canada and South Africa. She is also collaborating with Carol Mershon to develop new strategies for diversifying and addressing bias in the social sciences. Walsh’s first book, Women’s Rights in Democratizing States (Cambridge University Press, 2010), reveals the ways that democratic institutions obstruct advances in women’s rights. Her recent publications include "Does the Quality of Democracy Matter for Women's Rights?" in Comparative Political Studies, and “A Feminist Approach to Quotas and Comparative Politics” in Politics & Gender. Walsh’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Collegio Carlo Alberto in Italy, the Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College, and numerous organizations at the University of Virginia. Walsh won the Best Dissertation Prize from the Women in Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association in 2007. She received an all-University Teaching Award in 2014. Walsh teaches courses on democratic theory and democratic practice, identity and the state, gender politics in the Global South and in Africa, culture and human rights, and gender-based violence.