International Women's Media Foundation facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
International Women's Media Foundation

Type	Nonprofit organization
Industry	Journalism, human rights, social justice, women's rights
Founded	1989; 36 years ago (1989)
Headquarters	Washington, D.C. , United States

The International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) is a group that helps women who work in the media, like reporters and photographers. Based in Washington, D.C., the IWMF works around the world to support female journalists and make their jobs safer and fairer.

The IWMF offers special programs, money for reporting projects, and help during emergencies. The group also studies the challenges women face in the news industry. A big part of their work is making sure journalists are safe, especially from online bullying and other dangers. The IWMF gives out special awards to celebrate brave women in journalism.

The IWMF believes that everyone deserves to be safe while doing their job. They know that some journalists, including women, people of color, and LGBTQIA people, often face more challenges and unfair treatment. The organization also speaks up for the freedom of the press, which is the right for journalists to report the news without fear.

History of the IWMF

The International Women's Media Foundation was started in 1990. Its goal was to help women in the news media by giving them training and ways to connect with each other. In November 1990, the IWMF held its first big meeting in Washington, D.C. It brought together 100 women journalists from 50 different countries. Famous journalists like Barbara Walters and Katharine Graham spoke at the event.

Studying Women in the News

In 2011, the IWMF released a big report about women in the news media. They studied 522 media companies in 59 countries. The report showed that women held only about one-third of the jobs in the news industry. It also found that fewer women were in top leadership roles.

The study also looked at how newsrooms handled problems like harassment. While many companies had rules to protect employees, some didn't think these rules were needed. This showed that there was still work to be done to make newsrooms safer for everyone.

Fighting Online Bullying

By 2018, the IWMF found that online harassment against women journalists was a growing problem. Many reporters said they had received threats or had their personal information shared online without their permission. This is sometimes called doxing.

In response, the IWMF helped create the Coalition Against Online Violence in 2020. This group includes over 80 organizations that work together to support journalists who are being bullied online. They have created guides and tools to help reporters protect themselves. For example, they worked with PEN America to make short videos called Digital Safety Snacks that teach simple safety tips.

Awards for Courageous Journalists

The IWMF gives out several awards each year to honor amazing women journalists. These awards celebrate women who show great bravery to report the truth, often in dangerous situations.

Courage in Journalism Award

This award is for women journalists who risk their safety to uncover important stories. Winners have come from all over the world, including Claudia Duque from Colombia, Najiba Ayubi from Afghanistan, and Victoria Roshchyna from Ukraine.

Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award

This award honors brave women who tell stories through pictures. It is named after Anja Niedringhaus, a famous photographer who was killed in Afghanistan in 2014. She had won an IWMF award in 2005. Winners of this award include Heidi Levine and Kashmiri photojournalist Masrat Zahra.

Gwen Ifill Award

Named after the famous journalist Gwen Ifill, this award is for an outstanding woman journalist of color. It recognizes her leadership and work to support other journalists. Past winners include Michele Norris and Nikole Hannah-Jones.

Wallis Annenberg Justice for Women Journalists Award

This award was created in 2021 to honor journalists who have been put in jail unfairly because of their work. The first winners were Katsiaryna Andreyeva and Darya Chultsova from Belarus.

Lifetime Achievement Award

From 1991 to 2018, this award honored women who had long and successful careers in journalism. These women helped open doors for future generations of female reporters. Winners included Edna Machirori from Zimbabwe and Amira Hass from Israel.

Helping Journalists Grow

The IWMF offers special programs called fellowships to help journalists learn new skills and work on important projects.

Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship

This fellowship is named after Elizabeth Neuffer, a reporter who won a Courage in Journalism Award and was later killed in Iraq. The program allows a woman journalist who covers human rights or social justice to study at MIT and work with newspapers like The Boston Globe and The New York Times.

Lauren Brown Fellowship

This program gives money to women and nonbinary journalists for projects on topics that don't get enough attention. It is named for Lauren Brown, an editor at the news publication Quartz who passed away in 2019.

Kari Howard Fund for Narrative Journalism

This fund gives money to journalists who are great at telling personal and powerful stories. It honors Kari Howard, an editor known for her amazing storytelling skills at places like The Los Angeles Times.

Special Projects

The IWMF has led many projects around the world to improve news reporting.

The Maisha Yetu Project

In 2002, the IWMF started a project called Maisha Yetu, which means "Our Lives" in Swahili. It helped African journalists improve their reporting on health topics like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. The project trained reporters and helped them share resources. As a result, news coverage of these important health issues increased.

Reporting on Agriculture and Women Project

This project, started in 2007, focused on how the media in Africa reported on farming. Research showed that even though women did most of the farming, they were rarely mentioned in news stories. The IWMF trained journalists to better cover farming and the important role of women in providing food for their communities.

Reporta App

In 2015, the IWMF released a free phone app called Reporta. It was designed to help keep journalists safe. However, security experts found some problems with the app. They were worried that the app did not protect user information well enough.

In response to this, the IWMF made the app's computer code public. This allowed anyone to check it for security problems. The IWMF then worked with experts to find and fix the issues to make the app safer for journalists to use.

See also

• Women in journalism and media professions