International Museum of Women

The International Museum of Women, (I.M.O.W.), located in San Francisco, California is a social change museum that celebrates and values the lives of women around the world. The museum's programming is offered locally in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as globally. The museum began as the Women's Heritage Museum in 1985 and in 1997 became the more encompassing International Museum of Women.

History

I.M.O.W. was founded as the Women's Heritage Museum in 1985. As the Women's Heritage Museum, it produced exhibitions, public programs, book fairs, educational resources for Women's History Month and honored unknown local women. The need for a larger museum was realized in 1997 when a group of Bay Area teachers sought a place to take their students. One of these teachers, Elizabeth Colton, who had been on the board of the Women's Heritage Museum, spurred the drive to create a larger museum, in part through private funding.

Since its rebirth under the new name in 1997, I.M.O.W has organized more than seven major exhibitions, hosted a number of public fora, developed educational ciurriculum for schools and created a number of speaker series that draw artists, authors and political leaders including, Alice Walker and Riane Eisler, among others.

Exhibits

Imaginging Ourselves one of the museum's most prominent exhibits since it's re-opening involved providing women worldwide with a platform of expression and encouraged participation from women throughout the world. The exhibition has attracted the support of artists and celebrities such as journalist Lisa Ling, comedian Margaret Cho, figure skater Oksana Baiul, Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan, writer Immaculée Ilibagiza, actress Jennifer Siebel, writer Rebecca Walker, Journalist and author Mariane Pearl. Imagining Ourselves began in 2001 when founder Paula Goldman posed the question What Defines Your Generation of Women? to women ages 20 to 40 around the world. She wrote a short call asking women to submit artwork and writings responding to the question and with the help of a few international organizations, she sent it out. Soon after, I.M.O.W signed on to support the project and a 240-page anthology from the submissions was formed. The anthology, Imagining Ourselves - Global Voices from a New Generation of Women was published in March 2006 by New World Library.

The exhibit was previewed to international delegates at the United Nations Beijing +10 Conference in 2005, and has since toured the world. More than 60 distinguished leaders from around the globe signed on to be ambassadors for the project, as did major international organizations such as Amnesty International and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.

The Power of Politics

In conjunction with Women, Power and Politics, I.M.O.W. is spearheading an online campaign to inspire people around the world to connect with each other and spark a global dialogue on why women's political power matters. The Power of Politics Campaign (P.O.P) provides five steps that people can take today. Steps include connecting to I.M.O.W.’s online community, taking action in your own community to help increase political knowledge, becoming active in the political process or supporting women who are interested in running for both informal and formal political positions worldwide.

Notes

External links

• IMOW
• Imagining Ourselves