The rise of a generation of powerful female politicians, including U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Christine Todd Whitman, pictured here, is deeply symbolic of the dramatic change in women's
opportunities during the past century.
Since joining the University of Virginia's law faculty in 1998, Ryan has focused on how American law and politics have shaped education and
opportunity during the
past half -
century, often impeding or undermining the progress they were intended to bring about.