Papers of Joan Kuriansky, 1978-2017

Attorney and senior policy advisor, Joan A. Kuriansky has spent the bulk of her professional life focused on leading local and national non-profit organizations that empower women and girls throughout their lifespans. A graduate of Washington University (BA 1973), Occidental College (MA 1974), and the University of Virginia Law School (JD 1977), Kuriansky began her work with battered women in 1978 when she helped establish the first shelter in Washington, DC. She later served as executive director of Women Against Abuse in Philadelphia (1981-1987) and in 1995 was recruited to provide technical assistance to state agencies implementing the Violence Against Women Act (1995-2001). She also served on President Clinton's Advisory Council on Violence Against Women (1995-2000). From 2001-2011 Kuriansky was executive director of Wider Opportunities for Women which works nationally to achieve economic independence for women. She was also executive director of the Older Women's League (1987-1994) and the co-founder and convener of the Campaign for Women's Health which brought together coalitions to ensure that women's voices were heard in the national debate on health care reform; its model care package was central to the Women's Health Equity Act of 1992. Internationally Kuriansky worked in a number of countries on gender violence and on ensuring women's participation in civil society. Most recently she has served as the United States delegate to the Asian Pacific Economic Women's Summit, and organized the non-governmental organization tracts at the annual Global Summits for Women in Athens, Istanbul, and Kuala Lumpur.