Preserving our Past, Safeguarding our Future

For the past five decades, ICRW has helped change the course of women’s history. From pioneering research on women’s role in household economic decisions to catalyzing global attention to the rise in online violence and harassment, we’ve generated groundbreaking insights to advance gender equality. As we mark ICRW’s 50th year, we’re asking: what more can we do to ensure these insights continue to inform the next generation of researchers and activists? 

Recently, our team opened an unheated storage locker filled with decades of ICRW history. These included board records from the 1970s, photographs of our leaders on world stages, and reports that helped shape policy and practice globally. Many of these materials have not been digitized.  

We understand the urgency of sharing this history in ways that reflect how people discover and engage with information today. 

Technology is rapidly reshaping how knowledge is found, shared, and trusted. At the same time, the gender equality movement is navigating intense backlash and rising misinformation. In this landscape, historical context and the wealth of research, lessons, and networks that we’ve developed over decades form the toolkit we need to address today’s challenges and meet tomorrow’s with conviction.  

Across the world, digital discovery increasingly relies on search engines and AI, yet these systems are only as strong, and as equitable, as the information they can access. What happens when archives stay offline? There is a real risk that the next generation of researchers will base their work on an incomplete evidence base. Given the well-documented ways power dynamics and gender inequality have shaped which evidence has been digitized, it is critical that we rebalance these systems by ensuring feminist scholarship is fully represented and our research is visible and discoverable. 

The opportunity in front of ICRW, and all our allies, is to rethink how we document, surface, and share critical gender equality knowledge so current and future changemakers can engage with it, apply it, and build upon it.  

As part of our 50th anniversary commemoration, we are reimagining how our collective history can come to life and make a difference in the world today. We are exploring ways to transform half a century of research, programs, and advocacy into a living archive—one that brings this work into the public square through creative, immersive experiences. Preservation alone is not enough; knowledge must be made meaningful to resonate with audiences across communities. 

That’s one of the reasons we launched our Architects of Change storytelling campaign—to highlight the people, moments, and milestones that have shaped gender equality. Documenting history also means elevating voices and sparking conversations that inform, educate, connect, and inspire bold action. As part of this effort, we are hosting a limited-edition podcast featuring visionaries and disruptors driving progress for women, girls, and structurally excluded people across the world. 

Last month, we were reminded of the power of collective memory when we co-hosted a screening of The Day Iceland Stood Still. The documentary explores the day in 1975 when women across Iceland took part in a historic nationwide strike—refusing to work, cook, or care for children. The country effectively came to a standstill. They transformed awareness of women’s economic and social contributions, and in doing so, changed Iceland and the world.   

As we reflect on 50 years of impact, we are committed to documenting our history while reimagining how it can be shared and activated for today’s realities. Preserving this knowledge honors our past, strengthens our capacity for impact today, and equips future generations to realize the promise of gender equality.