PFRH Wednesday Seminar Series: Menstruation, Menopause and Public Policy

Attorney and author Jennifer Weiss-Wolf serves as executive director of the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center at NYU Law. She also leads partnerships and strategy at Ms., the feminist movement-making magazine. A passionate writer on and advocate for issues of gender and politics, Jennifer was dubbed the “architect of the U.S. campaign to squash the tampon tax” by Newsweek. She has presented on issues related to her area of expertise — menstruation, menopause, and the law — at the White House and before Congress, as well as in state legislatures and major city governmental bodies; she works closely with domestic and global leaders, advocates, and innovators in pursuing policy reforms. Her 2017 book Periods Gone Public: Taking a Stand for Menstrual Equity was lauded by Gloria Steinem as “the beginning of liberation for us all.” She authored the 2025 Citizen’s Guide To Menopause Advocacy, featuring a foreword from advocate and journalist Maria Shriver; she is now writing a book inspired by the Citizen’s Guide to be published by Hachette US (Sheldon Press) in 2026. Jennifer’s scholarship and writing have been published by the NYU Review of Law and Social Change; Columbia Journal of Gender and Law; and William and Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice. Her writing and work have been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, TIME, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, Oprah Daily, NPR, PBS, and MSNBC.com, among others. She is also a regular contributor at the popular Substack, The Contrarian.