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From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues

Ms. Foundation for Women

Founded in 1973, the Ms. Foundation for Women (MFW) “builds women’s collective power across race and class to tackle the root causes of injustice and ignite progressive change for all,” according to the organization’s website. MFW believes that all issues are women’s issues and works in four broad areas: building democracy, economic justice, ending violence, and women’s health. Through grantmaking, networking, and alliance building, MFW intends to advance women’s solutions for change.

By directing its resources to projects that endeavor to overcome racial, class, age, disability, sexual orientation, and cultural barriers, MFW has supported women’s and girls’ efforts to govern their own lives and influence the world around them. To meet its goals, MFW focuses on economic security, health and safety, and girls, young women, and leadership. The foundation may be best known for Take Our Daughters to Work Day, an annual public education program begun in 1993.

The Ms. Foundation for Women was established because at the time there were no foundations that gave money to women as a category. Founded the same year as Ms. magazine, the foundation’s funding was to come from the magazine’s profits, but the magazine struggled financially and did not produce the anticipated revenues. In 1973, actress Marlo Thomas created an NBC-TV special, Free to Be You and Me to benefit the foundation, and other fundraising projects followed.

In 1984, Marie Wilson joined the foundation as its president, and under her leadership, the foundation has expanded its financial resources and its programs. The annual budget has grown from $400,000 to $6.2 million since 1984. In addition, Wilson established an endowment fund for the foundation and raised $10 million for it. In 2009, the endowment stood at nearly $24 million.

The foundation’s program areas include support for groups that seek economic justice and that foster economic development through job creation, constituency building, public policy advocacy, welfare reform, pay equity, child care, and related projects. In the area of women’s health and safety, the foundation supports programs that address gender bias in health care; protect reproductive rights; and increase resources to end domestic violence, incest, child sexual abuse, rape, and sexual assault and harassment. The foundation makes grants to leadership programs for girls and young women, including those related to improving girls’ health; ending violence against girls; creating non-sexist, non-violent curricula; and reducing teen pregnancy rates.

In 1993, MFW created Take Our Daughters to Work Day to focus the attention of policymakers, the media, and the general public on the needs and concerns of girls. Held on the fourth Thursday in April, Take Our Daughters to Work Day encourages employers to permit girls ages nine to 15 to spend the day at work with a parent or other adult. The project, which has involved companies across the country, has been more successful than its creators imagined, involving millions of girls and adults, with some employers offering special programs for the girls and the adults they accompany. The President’s Interagency Council on Women, for example, sponsored Take Our Daughters to Work Day, providing opportunities for high school students to meet federal officials, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and others. The program evolved into Take our Daughters and Sons to Work Day in 2003.

In 2002, MFW sponsored the research for Raise the Floor: Wages and Policies That Work, which proposed a national minimum needs budget for adults and families; a realistic federal minimum wage; and policies to supplement wages so that people can meet their basic needs.

In 2018, the foundation unveiled a five-year plan to invest $25 million into resources and organizations led by women of color. It also formed, for the first time in its history, a 501(4)(c) fund dedicated to financing grassroots movements.

See also: Abortion; Domestic Violence; Ms. Magazine; Rape; Sexual Harassment

References: Ms. Foundation for Women, http://ms.foundation.org/our_approach (accessed August 7, 2012 and April 10, 2019).

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
"Ms. Foundation For Women." From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, edited by Suzanne O’Dea, Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0653.
APA 7th
Ms. Foundation for Women. From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, In S. O’Dea (Ed.), Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0653.
CMOS 17th
"Ms. Foundation For Women." From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, Edited by Suzanne O’Dea. Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0653.