Press Kit: IWMF Background
Raising Awareness…Creating Opportunities…Building Networks
The International Women's Media Foundation was launched in 1990 with a mission to strengthen the role of women in the news media worldwide, based on the belief that no press is truly free unless women share an equal voice.
The news media play an increasingly influential role in the way people see the world. Yet, throughout the world decisions about what constitutes news are most often made by men. On average, men are seven times more likely than women to reach the highest levels of media management.
The IWMF has created an international network of women journalists with associates in more than 100 countries and works to help women in the international media excel in their profession through innovative programs. IWMF forums explore the obstacles women face in their lives and their careers. Programs offer practical solutions for career advancement, but they also give women journalists the means to become instruments of change both in the workplace and in society.
The IWMF …
- Develops training and career development workshops that focus on building leadership skills.
- Sponsors the annual Courage in Journalism Awards, which recognize international women journalists who have shown bravery, determination and integrity in their journalism careers. Many have willingly put their lives on the line to report the news.
- Publishes a quarterly newsletter, issues reports on the status of women in the media and publishes the IWMF directory, which includes more than 800 women in the media worldwide.
- Maintains a website, www.iwmf.org, which, in 2002, was revamped with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The new website features an online training center with self-directed training modules, a searchable database of more than 800 journalists in 100 countries, and news about international women journalists and press freedom.
- Founded the African Women's Media Center, located in Dakar, Senegal, which provides resources, training and networking opportunities for journalists in Africa. The AWMC publishes a newsletter and maintains a website, www.awmc.com, and has become a leader in training for African journalists using the Internet. The AWMC has sponsored workshops on topics such as business reporting, reporting using the Internet, reporting on HIV and AIDS, reporting skills for radio journalists and more.
- In 2003 began a three-year campaign to improve media coverage of health issues in Africa. The Maisha Yetu Media Campaign for Our Lives, (Maisha Yetu means "our lives" in Swahili) is being conducted by the African Women's Media Center.
The IWMF has created successful programs in Eastern and Central Europe, Russia, Africa, Latin America, Asia and the United States. They include:
Women Reaching for the Top: Initiatives for Media Leadership, a series of leadership training workshops for women in the U.S. media supported by a grant from the McCormick Tribune Foundation. Workshops have been held in New York, Miami, San Francisco and Washington, DC. An advanced leadership workshop was held in Washington, DC, in June 2003. Other leadership programs are being planned for 2003-2004.
Reporting on HIV/AIDS for Radio Journalists, held in Johannesburg, South Africa in June 2002 and in Lagos, Nigeria, in December 2002. An advanced workshop for radio journalists was held in 2003 in Johannesburg. These workshops are sponsored by the African Women's Media Center, a project of the IWMF. They combine in-depth informational sessions on HIV and AIDS with practical sessions on radio production.
Carole Simpson Leadership Institute, named after the veteran ABC News anchor who established the program. Held for four years in different parts of Africa, the training is sponsored by the African Women's Media Center.
Creating a Foundation for Leadership and Latin American Initiative - The IWMF organized three workshops in Nicaragua, Argentina and Ecuador in March and May of 2001 to define goals and objectives for a Latin American Women's Media Initiative. At these meetings, 70 Latin American women journalists from 17 countries met to shape and structure the future project. The Latin American Women's Media Initiative is a long-term project being developed by the IWMF to support Latin American women in making their voices heard in media leadership.
Internet "cyber forums" on reporting on HIV/AIDS in Africa for French speakers (September 2001) and English speakers (September 2000).
Women in the News Media: A Focus on Leadership - On its 10th anniversary, in May 2000, the IWMF brought women media leaders from 60 countries to Washington, DC, to explore the future of women in the media.
Empowering Women in the Media: Asia - 1998, Manila, Philippines
IWMF's African Women's Media Center - established, 1997, Dakar, Senegal
Empowering Women in the Media: Mexico - 1997, Mexico City, Mexico
The Voice of Women: Does Media Coverage of Elections Meet the Needs of Women? - 1996, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, DC
Women in the Sports Media: Hurdling the Obstacles - 1996 Olympics, Atlanta
Latin Voices: Women Strengthening the Media - 1995, Santiago, Chile
The New Media: Surviving in a Market Economy - 1994, Warsaw, Prague, Moscow
African Voices: Strengthening the Media - 1993, Harare, Zimbabwe
Marcy McGinnis and Lynn Povich are co-chairs of the IWMF Board of Directors. Lisa Woll is the executive director.
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September 2003/KC
What is the IWMF's mission?
The IWMF's mission is to strengthen the role of women in the news media worldwide, based on the belief that no press is truly free unless women share an equal voice.
What is the IWMF's vision?
The IWMF's vision is a news media in which women play significant roles, not only at the top ranks of the profession, but at all levels of the media business. The IWMF works to increase the numbers of women in media leadership, combats discrimination against women in the media and focuses on eliminating negative portrayals of women in the media.
Why is the International Women's Media Foundation needed?
The news media influence how people view world events. Yet, in most newsrooms around the world, men most often make decisions about what constitutes the news. The Radio-Television News Directors Association in the United States reported in its 2003 survey of women and minorities that women are 27 percent of television news directors and are just 39 percent of the television workforce. In radio, women hold 14 percent of news director positions and are just 24 percent of the radio workforce.
Similarly, a 2003 survey by the American Society of Newspaper Editors found that women are only 33 percent of newsroom supervisors. In other parts of the globe, the situation is even bleaker. According to a 1995 poll sponsored by UNESCO, women are eight percent of broadcasting managers in Africa and 14 percent of managers in the print media. In Latin America, the figures are 21 percent for broadcasting and 16 percent for print.
The reality underscored by these numbers is that men decide which stories warrant top-of-the-news and front-page coverage, who will be quoted and which photographs will be used to illustrate stories.
In March 2000, the IWMF polled international women leaders in the media. A significant majority - 92 percent - who responded to the informal survey agreed that women bring a different, more "human" perspective to the news. Women journalists from six continents also said that their presence in the news business makes a difference, at least some of the time, in how the news is covered.
The IWMF is working to empower women in the media so that they can more fully participate in their profession, help decide what constitutes news and create a more balanced view of the society in which they live.
How does the IWMF work to implement its vision?
The IWMF works to implement its vision by providing training, networking opportunities and resources to women journalists around the world. The IWMF also maintains two websites -- one associated with the IWMF's African Women's Media Center -- where international women journalists can go for training opportunities and resources. The IWMF and AWMC websites are important resources for and about women journalists internationally.
Training:
Since its founding in 1990, the IWMF has been on the cutting edge in providing women journalists with job-related and leadership skills training to become leaders in 21st century media. The IWMF's skills workshops have focused on topics ranging from surviving in a market economy for Eastern European nations and countries of the former Soviet Union, radio production for rural African journalists, reporting on health care for Eastern European journalists, and the impact and use of new technologies for groups in several countries. Other workshops have focused on specialized reporting on business, health, sports and HIV/AIDS in Africa. The IWMF has created leadership training workshops for women journalists in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and the United States.
In the United States, the IWMF's diversity programs have included leadership training for women of color. Following a 1999 survey of women of color and their newsroom managers, the IWMF identified a need for leadership training targeted at women journalists of color in the United States. Workshops were held in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Houston and Chicago.
The IWMF recently added online training modules to its website so that women in media around the globe can learn more about how to succeed in their careers. The Leadership Development Series includes Conflict Resolution for Leaders, Promoting Yourself as a Leader, and Career Planning and Development.
Networking:
The IWMF works to increase the impact of women in the media through programs that meet the needs of journalists around the world, as well as through a worldwide network that encourages and supports women journalists across international borders. As a result, international women in the media are no longer isolated, either in their newsrooms or their communities. The IWMF international women's network, which reaches into more than 120 countries, links women in the media who support one another both professionally and personally. The IWMF publishes an online network directory and also sponsors various Internet-based group e-mail services to keep the network connected.
Resources:
The IWMF's publications range from practical handbooks on specific reporting topics to broader studies on women in the international media. Recent publications include Reporting on HIV/AIDS in Africa: A Manual and Reporting on HIV/AIDS in Africa: A Resource Guide and Leading in a Different Language: Will Women Change the News Media, a status report on women in the international media. The IWMF also maintains two websites, www.iwmf.org and www.awmc.com (the website of the African Women's Media Center), where women journalists can go for information about these and other resources.
Why create a worldwide network of women in the media?
Women in the media are isolated, both from one another and from the traditional networks that men in the media use to get ahead in their profession. In order to advance in their careers, journalists need to take advantage of professional training opportunities. Still, women journalists responding to IWMF polls and those who have attended IWMF programs have consistently said that they must struggle to gain access to leadership and career development training. Journalists have declined opportunities to participate in IWMF training, even though it was offered free of charge, because their supervisors would not grant permission for them to attend. The IWMF network was created to help women in the media share professional information and support one another, as well as to provide access to the latest research and statistics on women in the media.
Why create training programs for women journalists only?
Too often, women in the media do not have access to the training opportunities they need to move ahead in their profession. In addition, a one-size-fits-all approach to media training does not take into account the different work experiences, as well as the different personal and professional demands, that women in the media face. By creating programs designed specifically with women's lives in mind, the IWMF is giving women in the media an opportunity to acquire the skills and experience they need to excel as journalists and media managers.
When was the IWMF founded?
The IWMF was founded in 1990 when a group of prominent women journalists gathered in Washington, DC, for an international conference, News in the Nineties. At that time, the countries of the East Bloc and the former Soviet Union were grappling with establishing new democracies -- and instituting the free press institutions that are an essential part of a democracy. The world had become a much smaller place, linked by 24-hour news channels with almost instant access to information. The Internet was in its infant phase, with implications for worldwide communications. In this climate, the journalists who gathered from 50 countries for the conference saw the need for an organization that would link women journalists around the world, and provide them with information and networking and training opportunities.
What are some of the IWMF's programs?
The IWMF has held programs in more than 20 countries of Africa, Europe, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Russia and North America, reaching more than 3,000 women in the media. Among the IWMF's programs are:
- Leadership training for women in the media;
- Practical, skills building workshops on topics such as general reporting techniques, business skills to use in the media, computer-assisted reporting, and reporting on business, sports, health and politics;
- Publications that women in the media can use to become more effective in the workplace;
- Groundbreaking use of new technologies to link and train women using the Internet;
- Studies on the status of women in the media;
- A directory of individual international women and men in the media that also includes resources, fellowships, media organizations and press freedom organizations;
- A quarterly newsletter IWMFWire and two websites;
- Advocacy for international press freedom.
What are some of the highlights of IWMF programs?
African Women's Media Center:
In 1997, the IWMF established the African Women's Media Center in Dakar, Senegal, the first Africa-wide center for women journalists. The center is a partner with African women's media associations and individual African women in the media to provide training, advocacy and support to women journalists. The center sponsors its own skills building and leadership training programs. For example, the AWMC sponsors the Carole Simpson Leadership Institute, which brings African women journalists together for a seminar on leadership. Other highlights of the center's programs include radio training for rural women journalists and Internet-based training in both English and French on reporting on HIV/AIDS in Africa. The AWMC maintains its own website and publishes a newsletter, On The Wire/Sur Le Fil, in English and French.
International Leadership Conference:
To mark its 10th anniversary in 2000, the IWMF hosted an international conference for women media leaders in Washington, DC. More than 100 women from 60 countries spent three days examining the impact of women once they reach the highest rungs of the news business, exploring the future of the media with women and men leading major media companies and strategizing about where women in the media are headed, both personally and professionally.
Perhaps the most important result of the conference was the newfound sense of community among the group of media leaders, who asked that the IWMF find a way to keep them connected. The IWMF worked quickly to establish a "cyber community" among delegates over the Internet. This link allows them to communicate over a private e-mail listserve, a resource that they have used for personal connections, career support and to advocate for press freedom.
Latin America:
Women are just 25 percent of the total media workforce in Latin America, and just 14 percent of all production and editorial teams. Latin American women journalists who responded to an IWMF poll in September 2000 said that networking was among the critical measures they needed to combat this reality. Some 55 percent of the 100 Latin American women journalists who responded to the poll said that "meeting and networking with women journalists from other Latin American countries" were among the measures that would most benefit them as a group. Other top measures they identified were: "more women in leadership and management positions in the media" (58 percent) and "further development of journalism skills" (58 percent). Significantly, respondents also said that capable women do not have equal opportunity to advance into leadership positions in the Latin American media.
Their answers formed the basis for the research phase of the IWMF's new Latin American Initiative. The IWMF has been active in Latin America since 1995, holding programs in Santiago, Chile, in 1995, and in Mexico beginning in 1997. Renewed involvement in the region began in March 2001 with a series of programs that had two primary objectives: to provide leadership training to women journalists and to ask for their help in defining the future role of the IWMF in Latin America.
The women who attended the IWMF-sponsored workshops were frustrated by their tiny foothold in the Latin American media and lack of clout as a group. They are looking for better tools to help them succeed in their profession. First on their agendas are more and better ways to communicate with each other and with the rest of the world. They also want to be provided with more networking opportunities, to create a database to help them keep up-to-date on what is happening with Latin American women journalists and to have a place in cyberspace where they can share their stories, sorrows and successes. In addition, they want training in everything from specific reporting techniques to journalism ethics to leadership for women journalists. The IWMF is now researching how to best help them reach their goals.
United States:
In the United States, the IWMF emphasizes leadership training for women journalists.
The IWMF's most recent leadership program was conducted in the United States with support from the McCormick-Tribune Foundation in 2002-2003. A series of leadership workshops for entry- and mid-level women journalists were held in New York, Miami, San Francisco and Washington, DC. An advanced leadership workshop was heldin Wsahington, DC. Plans are underway for more leadership programs in 2003-2004.
In addition, Wells Fargo provided funding for a leadership training workshop for minority women journalists that was hosted by Univision, the Spanish-language broadcaster, in Los Angeles.
In 2000 - 2001, the IWMF sponsored leadership programs for women journalists of color. The series was developed following an IWMF survey among minority women journalists and their newsroom managers. Titled Present Without Power, the survey revealed a gap in thinking between women journalists of color and their managers. Responding to the need expressed through answers to the survey, the IWMF, with support from the Ford Foundation, developed leadership workshops for women journalists of color in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Houston and Chicago.
What are the IWMF Courage in Journalism Awards?
Created in 1990, the IWMF's Courage in Journalism Awards honor women who have shown bravery, integrity and determination in their journalism careers. Each year more than 1,000 IWMF supporters gather for ceremonies in New York, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles to honor these brave women who have often have risked their lives and livelihoods to see that stories of the world's events are accurately, objectively reported.
The Courage in Journalism Awards help to turn a spotlight on the work of brave, uncompromising journalists. They also help turn a harsh light on the countries and conflicts in which those journalists work. In calling attention to both the world's conflicts and the women who cover them, the IWMF offers a mantle of protection to the awardees and encourages all journalists working in difficult and challenging circumstances.
How does the IWMF select Courage in Journalism Award winners?
The IWMF accepts nominations for the Courage in Journalism Awards each year from January 1 - March 15. Nomination forms are available on the IWMF website during that time. Women journalists working in any media in any part of the world can be nominated. Awardees must demonstrate commitment to journalism as a profession and dedication to the highest standards of truth in reporting. They must be able to show a consistent, continuing body of work. Winners are selected and their names are released in May. Awards ceremonies for the Courage in Journalism Awards are held in October.
Who benefits from the IWMF's programs?
IWMF programs are designed with the needs of women journalists in mind. Listening to the voices in the IWMF network, the IWMF designs programs for entry-, mid- and senior-level women in the media. The IWMF seeks funding for programs so that individuals can participate with little or no expense.
Does the IWMF give grants?
The IWMF is not a funding organization and does not give grants.
How can I support the IWMF?
The IWMF relies on donations from foundations, corporations and individuals to carry out its programs. Donations support individual training programs, outreach to women around the world and the IWMF's general operations.
Can I become a member of the IWMF?
A worldwide network of associates supports the IWMF, which is not a traditional membership organization and does not hold annual meetings or sponsor chapters. Associates receive the IWMF's quarterly newsletter, IWMFWire, are listed in the IWMF directory and receive occasional invitations to IWMF-sponsored events. Associate levels begin at $50 a year. Associates may also choose to sponsor an international associate for an additional $50 per year.
Does the IWMF have student memberships?
The IWMF does not have student memberships, but any student can become an associate.
Sept. 13, 2002/KC