International Museum of Women (IMOW)
I.M.O.W. is a social change museum that connects and inspires people with powerful ideas and new ways of thinking that 
transform women’s lives and the world. With its focus on cultural change, I.M.O.W. advances the human right to gender equity worldwide.
Mission
The mission of I.M.O.W. is to value the lives of women around the world. I.M.O.W. is a groundbreaking social change museum that inspires global action, connects people across borders and transforms hearts and minds by amplifying the voices of women worldwide through global online exhibitions, history, the arts and cultural programs that educate, create dialogue and build community. With its unique focus on cultural change, I.M.O.W. advances the Women's rights to gender equity worldwide.
History
I.M.O.W. was originally founded as the Women’s Heritage Museum in 1985. For over 10 years, the Women’s Heritage Museum produced several exhibitions, hosted public programs, sponsored an annual book fair, provided teacher resources for Women’s History Month, honored unknown women from our local history and recreated historic events. Thanks to Elizabeth Colton, the Women’s Heritage Museum transformed in the I.M.O.W.
Since it’s inception in 1997, I.M.O.W. has organized seven major exhibitions, hosted public forums, developed educational curriculum for schools and created a speaker series drawing world-class artists, authors and political leaders. In 2005, I.M.O.W. embarked on a plan to build an innovative twenty-first century museum model to engage and impact women around the world through strategic partnerships, innovative global online exhibitions and local events.
Activities
As a social change museum, I.M.O.W. offers global online exhibitions serving a worldwide community. Through the use of advanced technology, strategic partnerships with global organizations and a physical presence in the San Francisco bay area, I.M.O.W. offers innovative programming both locally and beyond.
- SPEAKER SERIES: Extraordinary Voices, Extraordinary Change is I.M.O.W.’s renowned speaker series, held quarterly in San Francisco. It is a series of lectures by women from around the world who have made profound and unprecedented political, social and economic changes in the lives of women worldwide. These lectures highlight the roles they have played to show that women can and have made a difference nationally and internationally.
- EXHIBITIONS & SPECIAL EVENTS: Exhibitions and special events offer visitors engaging experiences that inform them about women’s issues and roles across cultures and throughout time, provoking them to question the status quo through an examination of individual identity, cultural structures and social order.
- Interactive global online exhibitions invite visitors to join in dialogue with other women around the world, support international partner organizations doing important work on behalf of women, and build global communities through the reach of the internet. A public forum of I.M.O.W.’s Global Council members is held annually with over a dozen women leaders to discuss global issues concerning women’s human rights.
- ONLINE EDUCATION: As part of a continuing commitment to education, I.M.O.W. provides online art and education programs and curricula for teachers that are culturally-sensitive, age-appropriate and interactive.
Projects
- In 2006, I.M.O.W.’s strategy culminated with the launching of Imagining Ourselves: A Global Generation of Women, I.M.O.W.’s first interactive, multi-lingual online exhibition that connected more than a million participants around the world.
- In 2008, the I.M.O.W launched a global online exhibition, Women, Power and Politics. Women, Power, and Politics will connect visitors to the stories of women who have harnessed politics and power to transform women’s lives and society. Through online exhibitions, online community-building tools, and a live speaker series, Women, Power and Politics will spark conversations to inspire women to take action in their own communities and participate in broader political arenas as well.
- I.M.O.W. is in the process of creating permanent physical exhibition site in San Francisco, a place where visitors can connect and become inspired in person. They plan to open by 2012.