The IWF is a global organization of preeminent women of significant and diverse achievement. Members come together across national and international boundaries to share knowledge and ideas, to enrich each other's lives, to provide a network of support and to exert influence. Through the Leadership Foundation, the International Women's Forum helps prepare future generations of women leaders.

Founded in 1982 in the United States of America, the IWF has grown across five continents in 21 nations representing 60 affiliates. Presently, there are over 4,200 women leader/members participating in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, the Pacific Basin, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. With forums throughout the world, the IWF facilitates networking among women of achievement and promotes opportunities for women in leadership.

IWF's founders, Elinor Guggenheimer and Eleanor Holmes Norton, had the vision of creating a networking vehicle for top women leaders. IWF has grown into a world-class leadership association of global importance providing access, information, leadership exchange and development for women on issues of international concern.

Providing support, professional opportunities, camaraderie and input for women leaders at home where they live through affiliated forum activities, the International Women's Forum also provides a global stage upon which women leaders can meet, confer, resolve, and develop opportunities that expand prospects for women and girls throughout the world.

Through international programming, conferences, galas, symposia, communications, publications and special functions, women leaders are able to meet, experience and exchange ideas and goals with others whose decisions move industries, shape economies and define government policies worldwide.

The purpose of the organization is to provide a platform for women leaders to meet among their peers in a non-competitive environment where meaningful friendships and alliances can grow and form.

The organization is a source of learning across disciplines and with dimensions that are truly unique. Through programs and Conferences held by the IWF and its Leadership Foundation, women leaders enjoy uplifting, enriching and positive moments that cannot be garnered anywhere else.

Each year, the International Women's Forum recognizes two or three exceptional women by inducting them into its International Hall of Fame. Honorees who have received this award include as: Margaret Thatcher, Former Prime Minister of Great Britain; Audrey Hepburn, International Film Star; Sally Ride, First U.S. Woman in space; Maya Angelou, American Writer and Performer; Clare Booth Luce, Author/Stateswoman; Leontyne Price, Opera Diva; Mary Robinson, Former President of Ireland; Katharine Graham, Chairman of the Board, The Washington Post Company; Barbara Walters, Journalist; Ella Fitzgerald, American Jazz Artist; Isabel Allende, Noted Author and Rosa Parks, Mother of the Civil Rights Movement