Karen Offen received a degree in History from the University of Idaho in 1961, and a Master's degree and Ph.D. in Modern European History from Stanford University in 1964 and 1971. She is a historian and independent scholar, affiliated as a Senior Scholar with the Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University. She publishes on the history of Modern Europe, especially France and its global influence; Western thought and politics with reference to family, gender, and the relative status of women; historiography; women's history; national, regional and global histories of feminism; comparative history.