Mala Htun

Mala Htun is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of New Mexico. Her research interests are Latin American politics and international comparative politics, with a specific focus on gender, race, and ethnicity. Professor Htun is the author of Sex and the State: Abortion, Divorce, and the Family under Latin American Dictatorships and Democracies(Cambridge University Press, 2003), in which she analyzes the effects and social implications of gender-related policy reform in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. Among her most recent publications are "Gender, Parties, and Support for Equal Rights in the Brazilian Congress" in Latin American Politics and Society (with Tim Power; 2006), "Gender Equality in Transition Politics: Comparative Perspectives on Cuba" in Looking Forward: Cuba's Democratic Transition (ed. Marifeli Pérez-Stable; University of Notre Dame Press, 2007), and "Is Gender Like Ethnicity? The Political Representation of Identity Groups," in Perspectives on Politics (2004), for which she won the Heinz Eulau Award from the American Political Science Association. Professor Htun was a National Science Foundation award recipient for her project titled "Collaborative Research. States and Sex Equality: Why do Governments Promote Women's Rights?" Additionally, she has been a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University and the Kellogg Institute at the University of Notre Dame, and received the Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship in Japan. Professor Htun holds a B.A. from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University.