The mission of the Women’s Media & Technology Fund at the Global Fund for Women was to support women-led organizations using media strategies to advance women’s rights. It was also a community of activists, donors and media professionals learning about and leveraging the impact of Global Fund for Women grantees who use media.
Among the many reasons that women-led organizations are increasingly using media strategies is media’s ability to expose human rights issues to the international community.
The Women’s Media & Technology Fund was created in 2002 as a field of interest fund that brought together the resources of donors who are passionate about using media as a strategy to advance women’s human rights worldwide. The fund supported a broad range of projects, from women-run radio programs to media trainings to newspapers, magazines, and street theater.
Beyond providing crucial financial resources for women’s organizations worldwide, the Women’s Media & Technology Fund connected activists, donors and media professionals to one another, creating a space for learning about and leveraging the impact of Global Fund grantees using media.
While mainstream media can reinforce sexist values, or exclude women entirely, it also has the potential to transform and support women’s struggles for equality. By creatively using print media, radio, video and the Internet, women’s organizations are finding ways to empower and emancipate women around the globe.
In the hands of women, media can push through that silence, promoting positive attitudes and powerful images of women claiming their rights. As more people gain access to computers and communication technology becomes more available than ever, a wider variety of perspectives and realities are being shared.
The Women’s Media & Technology Fund was part of the movement to break the spiral of silence that keeps the voices of women worldwide from being heard.
2008: Channel made a grant to the Women’s Media & Technology Fund of the Global Fund for Women in order to support women-led organizations using media strategies to advance women’s rights. For example the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) was formed to defend women’s rights and work towards women’s equality with men in Iraq. The group publishes a feminist newspaper, operates several women’s shelters and raises awareness on issues like domestic abuse, sexual trafficking, and access to education.