The Women's Leadership Institute was founded in 1994 as part of Mills' long-standing commitment to social justice, women's leadership, and equality. For more than a decade, esteemed scholars, activists, filmmakers, writers, policy makers, environmentalists, and art critics from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the United States participated in a sustained dialogue and conducted research focusing on women's leadership from the grassroots to the global level. The Women's Leadership Institute also sponsored major local and national conferences, while participating in international forums from Bejing to Dubai and San Francisco to Ramallah. The Institute also partnered with community organizations and projects to carry out its mission.

More than a decade later, the Women's Leadership Institute continues to pursue the goal of growing women leaders and activists for social justice in innovative and creative ways by promoting inquiry and advancing knowledge about the role of women in historical and contemporary societies around the world. To that end, we continue to partner with departments and organizations on campus, as well as in the nonprofit, corporate, policy-making, and cultural communities to ensure that our undergraduate and graduate students have access to a comprehensive range of co-curricular experiences designed to enhance the richness of their intellectual, academic, and social lives, while building the foundation for their roles as future leaders.