Ruth Cardoso is the Chair of the Comunidade Solidaria program to combat poverty and social exclusion in Brazil. She serves on the editorial board of Novos Estudos, is a member of the Joint Committee on Latin American Studies of the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies, and is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Estudos Feministas.

Dr. Cardoso received a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Sao Paulo in 1972 and attended Columbia University on a Fulbright scholarship for post-doctoral studies. She has held academic positions at, among others, the Graduate Political Science Program, University of Sao Paulo; the City and Regional Department, University of California; and the Center for Latin American Studies at Cambridge University. She has been both researcher and director at the Brazilian Center of Analysis and Planning, member of the Board of the Public Educational TV of the state of Sao Paulo, a counselor at the National Council of Women's Rights, and a member of the Independent Commission on Population and Quality of Life. Ms. Cardoso is the author of several articles on urban anthropology, social movements and the Third Sector.

She is married to Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. They live in Brasilia and have three children.