Jody L. Herman, Manager of Transgender Research, Peter J. Cooper Public Policy Fellow

Jody L. Herman holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Public Administration from The George Washington University, where she also earned her M.A. in Public Policy. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the development of anti-discrimination protections in public facilities for transgender and gender non-conforming people. She has worked on issues of poverty, women’s rights, and anti-discrimination policy development with non-profit research, advocacy, and direct-service organizations in the United States and Mexico. Before joining the Williams Institute, she worked as a research consultant on issues of voting rights in low-income minority communities and gender identity discrimination. She served as a co-author on the groundbreaking report Injustice at Every Turn, based on the National Transgender Discrimination Survey conducted by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality.  At the Williams Institute, her work has included research on the fiscal and economic impact of marriage for same-sex couples, the fiscal impact of employment discrimination against people who are transgender, and the development of trans-inclusive questions for population-based surveys.  Her main research interests are the impact of gender identity-based discrimination and issues related to gender regulation in public space and the built environment.