Association for Women in Communications
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| Abbreviation | AWC |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1909 |
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Region served
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United States |
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Membership
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3,000 active members |
| Website | www |
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Formerly called
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Theta Sigma Phi Women in Communications, Inc. |
The Association for Women in Communications (AWC) is an American professional organization for women in the communications industry.
The Association for Women in Communication began in 1909 as Theta Sigma Phi, an honorary society at the University of Washington. It was founded by seven female students at the University of Washington in Seattle who had entered the college's new journalism program, the second of its kind in the country. By 1915, there were Theta Sigma Phi chapters at the universities of Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oregon and Ohio State University. Officers from the Washington Chapter still doubled as national officers, and the organization began publishing The Matrix, a Magazine for Women Journalists.
In 1918, Theta Sigma Phi held its first convention at the University of Kansas. A year later, women in Kansas City founded the first alumnae chapter (now known as professional chapters), followed by women in Des Moines and Indianapolis.
World War I brought more women into newspaper jobs as their male colleagues went to battle. Theta Sigma Phi member Alice Rohe was a United Press reporter in Rome; Bessy Beatty of the San Francisco Bulletin and Sigrid Schulz of the Chicago Tribune reported from Germany as the war ended. But in the postwar economic slump, hostility against "women in men's jobs" ran high. Many editors relegated women to society pages instead of "hard news."
Although women gained the right to vote in 1920, support lagged for other reforms. Ruby Black, who was national president, editor of The Matrix and the first manager of an employment bureau for members, noted in 1931 that female journalists couldn't get reporting jobs at the same pay as similarly qualified men.
Theta Sigma Phi strengthened as a national network during the 1930s. The association hired a professional director and founded a national office in 1934. It inaugurated the Headliner Awards in 1939 to honor members who had made outstanding contributions to the field. The group gave Eleanor Roosevelt honorary membership for her efforts to aid female communicators. The First Lady's most notable action was to close her news conferences to male reporters. Mrs. Roosevelt contributed several articles to The Matrix.
By 1940, Theta Sigma Phi had 39 chapters, and World War II was expanding opportunities for women. But inequality persisted, and women were regarded as temporary or less-serious workers. At the Theta Sigma Phi convention in 1946, delegates required all chapters to eliminate any race restrictions from their bylaws.
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Wikipedia