History

The Center for Partnership Studies was founded in 1987 in response to the demand of readers of Riane Eisler’s The Chalice and The Blade: Our History, Our Future, the first book describing the partnership model and the domination model as two basic possibilities for beliefs, institutions, and relations. Hailed by Princeton anthropologist Ashley Montagu as "the most important book since Darwin's Origin of Species" and a bestseller in its original U.S. edition, The Chalice and The Blade is now in 23 foreign editions (including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hebrew, and most European languages) and widely respected and used.

Since 1987, CPS has worked with individuals and organizations to change consciousness, promote positive personal action, encourage social advocacy, and influence policy. Many CPS initiatives focus on equal partnership between women and men as a major component of the partnership model. CPS initiatives advance a way of life based on harmony with nature, non-violence, and gender, racial, and economic equity. CPS is a member of the NGO (nongovernmental organization) section of the United Nations and supports the UN Millennial Goals.

CPS’s achievements include:

• The first international partnership conference, attended by 400 people from 50 countries, hosted by the former first lady of Greece (1989).
• The work of the Chinese Partnership Research Group at the Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, resulted in publication of The Chalice & The Blade in Chinese Culture (China Social Sciences Publishing House, using the partnership and domination models to understand China's past and help shape its future (1995)
• The 1995 CPS study of statistical data from 89 nations, Women, Men, & the Global Quality of Life, demonstrates the relationship between women's status and quality of life for all. Published in time for the Beijing UN Women’s Conference, it is still used by national and international agencies working for gender equity (1995)
• Pilot projects with schools, such as the Nova High School in Seattle, Washington, integrating partnership content, process, and structure into educational environments lead to the 2000 publication of Eisler’s Tomorrow’s Children: A Blueprint for Partnership Education in the 21st Century.
• Partnership Education in Action, a practical manual for teachers, was co-published with the Foundation for Educational Renewal (2001).
• The Spiritual Alliance to Stop Intimate Violence (SAIV), an initiative to make ending violence against women and children a top social, religious, and political priority, co-founded by Eisler with Nobel Peace Laureate Betty Williams, was launched (2003).
• The Darwin Project, an initiative to promote inclusion of Darwin’s ignored work showing that love, morality and mutual aid are major drivers at the human level into teachings about human evolution, was launched by CPS co-founder David Loye (2003).
• The Urdu edition of Tomorrow’s Children published in Pakistan was adopted as part of the Lahore Government College in its Master’s in Education curriculum, a breakthrough for partnership education in the Muslim world (2004).
• Education for a Culture of Peace, a collection of essays by leading educators co-edited by Riane Eisler and Ron Miller, was published by Heineman  (2004).
• The Montessori Foundation launched its Center for Partnership Education at its inaugural conference at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, California  (2005).
• California Institute for Integral Studies (CIIS) - Graduate Degree Program in Transformative Leadership with a concentration in Partnership Studies - courses taught by Riane Eisler and Susan Carter - (2007 to the present)
• Caring Economy Campaign launched with an Advisory Council of national and international leaders, and Kimberly Otis as Director in Washington, DC (2008)
• Caring Economy public policy initiative launched focused on the development and promotion of new economic metrics focused on human capacity development and care work, called Social Wealth Indicators (2009).
• Caring Economy Leaders Program launched an online training program certifying leaders in 12 countries to date for a multiplier effect around the world (2009)
• Release of Urban Institute report commissioned by CPS, The State of Society: Measuring Economic Success and Human Well-Being, endorsed by leaders of diverse organizations representing 30 million people with positive coverage in over 68 news wires (2010)
• The Caring Economy Campaign coalition is launched to influence the public and policy makers to move to a partnership economics where caring and caregiving work in both the market and nonmarket sectors is adequately valued, is launched (2011)
• The Academy of Management adopts the theme “Dare to Care” for its 2010 annual conference and invites Riane Eisler to give a keynote to an All-Academy session; at the following year’s conference professional development workshop “Caring Economics: Building and Leading Caring Societies, Organizations and Leaders through Action-Research Projects" as well as a symposium based on Caring Economics are presented; a symposium and a Caring Economics professional development workshop will also be presented at the annual meeting in August 2012.
• Dr. Eisler addresses the United Nations General Assembly on “Promoting a Holistic Approach to Sustainable Development in Harmony with Nature” to commemorate International Mother Earth Day (2011)
• Launch of the CEC website at www.caringeconomy.org (and the release of our 3 minute video on the home page) (2012)

• A groundbreaking two-day workshop of 20 nationally recognized experts is held at the Urban Institute in Washington DC on indicators of Social Wealth focused on the value of care work, early childhood education, women, and marginalized populations (2012)
• A reception with presentations by Dr. Eisler and Ambassador Ritva Koukku-Ronde is attended by CEC coalition members and media representatives at the Embassy of Finland (2012)
• Presentations on Caring Economics and Social Wealth indicators made at conferences such as the Women’s Funding Network and the New Economics Institute Conference at Bard College (2012)