The Indigenous Women's Network (IWN) is a nonprofit organization that provides a platform for Indigenous women in the Western Hemisphere.[1] The organization was founded in 1985.[2] IWN focuses on Native women, their families and communities and attempts to help them have sovereignty over themselves and their environment.[3] IWN has published a journal, Indigenous Women, since 1991.[3] This magazine is the first and currently the only magazine written by and for Native women.[4]
History
Winona LaDuke[5] and Janet McCloud were some of the co-founders of IWN.[6] Nearly 200 Native women activists created the IWN at a gathering hosted by the Northwest Indian Women's Circle in Yelm, Washington, in 1985.[7] LaDuke and McCloud felt that sexism which was present in the Native activist movements of the 1980s. This led to the creation of IWN.[2][8] IWN also shared members with Women of All Red Nations.[9] Over the past 21 years, IWN has evolved into an international coalition of Indigenous women from rural and urban communities who approach the resolution of contemporary challenges from a traditional Indigenous values base.[10]