About IWMF: Annual Report

From the IWMF Executive Director and Co-Chairs

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Since its founding in 1990, the IWMF has developed into a global network of thousands of women and men working to elevate the status of women in the news media. During this time, women have made progress in the media, but there is still work to be done. According to Women in Media 2006: Finding the Leader in You, a publication of the Media Management Center at Northwestern University, women tend to be clustered in the lower levels of the media and in jobs that don’t lead them to top positions. This most recent report reinforces what we have known for some time: There is a persisting gender gap in news media leadership.

At the same time, the mass media and the journalism profession have changed dramatically, with many media organizations struggling to find a niche in the era of instant, around-the-clock news, almost total public access to communication tools and the globalization of news on the World Wide Web.

In light of this changing environment, the IWMF’s board of directors used 2006 to plan for the future while continuing our commitment to the programs reviewed in this annual report. We held focus groups and conducted polls among ourstakeholders—IWMF associates, news media leaders, and our donors and friends—to understand how the IWMF can best help women reach their full potential in the news media and how the news media can best benefit when women journalists are contributing at their peak.Beginning in 2007, the IWMF will stress three areas: programs to help women journalists become leaders in the news media, research that documents both the progress women have made and the obstacles still keeping women from full participation in the global news media, and plans for enlarging our worldwide community of constituents engaged in our mission.

The IWMF will continue its vigorous support of worldwide press freedom through the Courage in Journalism Awards, which shine a light on heroines of a free press, and by organizing support for women journalists in danger around the world. We also plan to connect women journalists around the globe using state-of-the-art communications tools, form more international partnerships, develop regional networks and begin planning our third international conference of women in the news media, to be held in our 20th anniversary year.

The IWMF’s global impact on behalf of women in the news media is the result of your support. We wish to express our thanks as well as our hope for your continuing partnership.

Sincerely,

Eleanor Clift            Liza Gross            Jane Ransom

Co-Chair                 Co-Chair             Executive Director