The International Museum of Women (IMOW), headquartered in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, is an online

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

that covers women's issues worldwide. Since March 2014 it has been part of the

Global Fund for Women The Global Fund for Women is a non-profit foundation funding women's human rights initiatives. It was founded in 1987 by New Zealander Anne Firth Murray, and co-founded by Frances Kissling and Laura Lederer to fund women's initiatives around the ...

Creation and expansion

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 Women's History Month is an annual declared month that highlights the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. It is celebrated during March in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, corresponding with ...

and honored local women. In 1997, a group of Bay Area teachers spurred the drive to create a larger museum by raising donations. Since its expansion under the new name in 1997, I.M.O.W. has organized exhibitions, hosted public fora, developed educational curriculum for schools, and created a number of speaker series. As of June 2009, the museum exists as a virtual museum. A 2005 effort to build a facility for $120 million failed.

Exhibitions

The museum comprises several online exhibits. One of the exhibits, ''Imagining Ourselves'', an exhibit of artwork and writing covering how women aged 20 to 40 from around the world define their respective generations, edited into an anthology published in March 2006 by New World Library. ''Economica: Women and the Global Economy'', created in 2010, covered how women from around the world interact with money and their roles in the economy.

Merger

On March 5, 2014, IMOW merged with

, and is now described as 'now part of Global Fund for Women'.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Museums in San Francisco Women's museums in California Museums established in 1985 Virtual museums 1985 establishments in California