Although faculty and administrators said interest in these issues is not new, the recent explosion in the development of gender-related programs has been self-perpetuating, particularly in the form of new initiatives which grew out of the May conference.

The Women's Leadership Conference, which brought together an international group of women working in politics, business, academia, non-governmental organizations and the grassroots, addressed a range of topics from women's leadership in the private sector to gender and conflict resolution.

The conference's findings, to be published this fall, will guide the Women's Leadership Initiative as it seeks its next move, Budson said.

"It's an exploratory moment," said Mansbridge, who participated in the conference. "We're trying to figure out the best way of spending faculty energy and alumni money."

Burke traced the growth in programs which address the role of gender to a market principle.

"It's consumer driven in some respects," she said, noting demographic trends at the Kennedy School which include an increasing number of women choosing to go into public service.

Mansbridge suggested that the Kennedy School developments reflect a larger trend.

"In academia in the United States, we may be in a moment of main-streaming a number of these issues which have sometimes previously been ghettoized in women's studies and other areas or have been called 'women and politics,'" she said. "If this is happening nationwide, the Kennedy School will fit nicely with that movement. If it's not happening nationwide, then the Kennedy School will take a leadership role.