Shauna Shames is a Ph.D. Candidate in American Government at Harvard University. Her primary area of academic interest is American political behavior, with a focus on race, gender, and politics. Shames has published articles, reports, and book chapters on women as candidates, black women in Congress, comparative child care policy, work/family conflict, abortion, feminism in the U.S. and internationally, gay and lesbian rights, and U.S. public opinion. She has also designed and taught courses (as an instructor and as a teaching fellow/assistant) on race, class, gender, American politics, women's studies, the history of feminism, and has lectured widely on gender, race, and politics.