Center for American Women & Politics

What Center for American Women & Politics does

The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) is a non-profit research and education center founded in 1971 and housed within the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. CAWP's mission is to study, document, and advance women's political participation and leadership in the United States across federal, state, and local levels of office.

Its core technology stack centers on a set of long-running databases — most prominently the Women Elected Officials Database covering every woman elected to federal executive office, Congress, statewide executive office, and state legislatures since 1893 — supplemented by parallel collections on women candidates, voters, donors, and milestones. These datasets are exposed through the CAWP website via searchable databases and an interactive State-by-State Information System. The organization publishes recurring analytical reports (Women in Election series, Women Money and Politics Watch, Black Women in American Politics) and operates leadership training programs branded Ready To Run®, NEW Leadership®, and Teach a Girl to Lead®. CAWP also supports scholarship through research grants and dissertation awards.

CAWP operates a free, non-commercial distribution model. All data, publications, and resources are provided at no cost; the organization is funded through Rutgers University institutional resources, competitive research grants, and philanthropic donations via the Rutgers Foundation. Its primary audiences are academic researchers, journalists, women candidates and officeholders, leadership program participants, and the general public seeking data on women's political representation.

Name

Center for American Women & Politics

Legal name

Center for American Women and Politics

Website

https://cawp.rutgers.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

1971

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

CAWP is a Rutgers-based non-profit research center, founded 1971, that maintains comprehensive databases and publishes research on women's political representation in the United States from 1893 to present, while running leadership training programs for women candidates and scholars.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Political Research Services

NAICS

Human Rights Organizations (813311), Social Advocacy Organizations (8133)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAGAFAD

Gender Equality & Women’s Rights Advocacy

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Civil Rights, Advocacy & Public Policy Organizations

Keywords

• Political research
• Women political data
• Gender politics research
• Political leadership training
• Campaign finance research

Headquarters

HQ city

New Brunswick

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

CAWP is a university-based research and education center that maintains comprehensive databases tracking women's representation in American politics across federal, statewide, state legislative, and local levels since 1893. It publishes research reports, election analyses, and grant programs, and runs leadership training programs (Ready To Run, NEW Leadership, Teach a Girl to Lead) for women seeking political office.

Product overview

The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) is a research and education organization within Rutgers University's Eagleton Institute of Politics. Rather than a unified software product, CAWP offers a portfolio of data resources, research publications, and training programs focused on tracking and increasing women's political participation. Core offerings include the Women Elected Officials Database (historical and current data on women officeholders from 1893 to present), the Women, Money & Politics Watch research series analyzing campaign contributions, and the Milestones for Women in Politics interactive timeline. CAWP's education programs include Ready To Run®, NEW Leadership®, and Teach a Girl to Lead® training programs. The organization also publishes research reports including Black Women in American Politics annual publications and provides grant and award programs for scholarly research on women and politics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CAWP Gender & Politics Research Hub: Research hub providing access to gender and politics research
• Ready To Run®
• NEW Leadership®
• Teach a Girl to Lead®

Products and services

• Women Elected Officials Database A searchable database containing entries for every woman elected to the federal executive, Congress, statewide executive office, and state legislatures going back to 1893. Includes filtering by position, race/ethnicity, and party. Used by researchers, journalists, candidates, and the general public.
• Women, Money & Politics Watch Analyzes campaign contributions by individuals to major party congressional women and men candidates, examining gender, race, and party differences from candidate and donor perspectives during election cycles.
• Ready To Run A leadership training program designed to address women's underrepresentation in political leadership. Targets women interested in running for office.
• NEW Leadership An education and outreach program addressing women's underrepresentation in political leadership, targeting college women interested in politics.
• Teach a Girl to Lead A program focused on political leadership development targeting youth audiences to cultivate early interest in civic engagement.
• CAWP Gender & Politics Research Hub A centralized research hub providing access to gender and politics research, publications, grants, awards, and book series for scholars and broad audiences.
• Women's Political Resource Map An interactive resource map connecting users with women's political organizations, training programs, and support resources across the United States.
• Milestones for Women in Politics Interactive timeline tracking historical milestones and firsts for women in American politics from 1866 to the present, used for educational and research purposes.
• Women in Election 2024: Stalled Progress Post-election research report detailing numeric gains and stasis for women in congressional, statewide elective executive, and state legislative elections, with attention to differences by race, ethnicity, and party.
• Black Women in American Politics 2025 Annual publication tracking Black women's representation, candidacy, and participation in American politics across elected offices.
• New Jersey County Report Cards Annual report card ranking New Jersey counties based on women's representation in local and county offices, used by advocates and local officials.
• Donor Gap Interactive data visualizations examining campaign finance and gender from donor and recipient perspectives, with state-by-state analysis of political giving patterns.
• Voter Data Resource Historical data resource on gender and voting, including voter registration, turnout, vote choice, and partisan identification across U.S. elections.
• Women Candidates Data Data and analysis on women candidates including election results and historical trends by election cycle, used by campaigns, researchers, and journalists.

Quantifiable outcome

• Data supports understanding that women have yet to reach gender parity at any level of elected office in the U.S.
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Rutgers University - Eagleton Institute of PoliticscoreOthersCAWP is a component of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The organization operates within Rutgers University's institutional framework, sharing resources, infrastructure, and academic mission.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• She Should Run: A nonpartisan nonprofit encouraging women to run for office. Shares CAWP's mission of increasing women's political representation through training and encouragement, with a complementary recruitment focus.
• WomenLift Health: An organization focused on elevating women in global health leadership. Comparable to CAWP in its mission to increase women's leadership, though focused on the health sector rather than political office.
• Running Start: An organization dedicated to getting young women elected to political office. Directly comparable to CAWP's Ready To Run and NEW Leadership programs in training emerging women political leaders.

Broad incumbents

• National Women's Law Center: A larger advocacy organization focused on women's rights and gender justice. Related to CAWP's mission but broader in scope, covering legal and policy advocacy beyond political representation.
• League of Women Voters: A larger, established civic engagement organization focused on voter participation and informed citizenship. Directly comparable to CAWP in its mission to expand women's political participation and civic engagement in the U.S.
• EMILY's List: A larger, established organization focused on electing pro-choice Democratic women. Comparable to CAWP in its mission to elect more women, though takes a partisan and direct-electoral approach CAWP explicitly avoids.
• National Organization for Women (NOW): A large feminist advocacy organization promoting women's rights across multiple dimensions. Comparable to CAWP in its gender equality mission, though NOW is more explicitly activist and broader in scope.

Direct peers

• Barbara Lee Family Foundation: A nonprofit focused on electing more women to office through research and strategic support. Directly comparable to CAWP's research and training mission around women in political leadership.
• Higher Heights for America: A national nonprofit building Black women's political power and leadership. Shares CAWP's core mission of increasing women's political representation, with a specific focus on Black women that parallels CAWP's intersectional research.
• Women and Politics Institute at American University: A university-based research institute focused on women's political leadership. Direct academic peer to CAWP, with overlapping research and training missions for women in political leadership.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/CAWPvideos
• Facebookfacebook.com/womenandpolitics
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cawp
• Instagraminstagram.com/womenandpolitics
• Xx.com/CAWP_RU

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Center for American Women & Politics