Research Director
Andrea Davies Henderson
Andrea Davies Henderson received her B.A. in Women's Studies and Comparative Religion from Harvard University. She earned degrees in Religious Studies, M.A., and History, M.A. and Ph.D., from Stanford University. During her studies at Stanford, Dr. Henderson won both the Prize for Excellence in First-Time Teaching from the Stanford History department and a graduate dissertation fellowship from the Institute for Research on Women and Gender. Henderson's historical research uses gender analyses to understand natural disasters, ranging from the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire to Hurricane Katrina. Her work on the 1906 catastrophe, for example, shows how the disaster, emergency response, and subsequent relief policies reinforced gender and class hierarchies. In addition to numerous academic and public lectures, she has also appeared on a History Channel documentary, "Mega Disasters: The San Francisco Earthquake," and an ABC documentary, "1906: A City Remembers." Andrea Henderson has discussed the social implications of Hurricane Katrina disaster relief policies as well, both in New Orleans and on public radio. Her interest in the relationship between gender and disasters was sparked by her experiences as a San Francisco Firefighter.
As research director, Andrea Henderson is working on issues surrounding women and gender in science and technology. The Clayman Institute is currently running three inter-related studies on dual-career academic couples, women in high-tech companies, and women entrepreneurs. The goal of the each study is to find solutions, rooted in rigorous empirical studies, to attain gender equity in science, technology, and academia.