AWC-DC history
Mission statement • Chapter history • Chapater photo archives
Mission statement
The mission statement for the AWC-DC chapter is
- Provide educational and leadership opportunities for members of all ages and stages of career advancement.
- Honor and recognize women for their professional and community achievements.
- Promote professional standards throughout the communications industry.
Chapter history
The Association for Women in Communications was founded in 1909 as Theta Sigma Phi at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. The Washington, DC Professional Chapter was founded on February 13, 1927. The first in a long line of chapter presidents was Alice W. Hostetler. AWC-DC provides communications professionals in the DC area with opportunities for career development and networking.
Many prominent Washington women have belonged to the Washington, DC chapter. Monthly meetings, often held in members' homes during the early years, were attended by Lady Bird Johnson, whose husband was then a Senator; Mae Craig, renowned correspondent for the Gannett newspapers; Bess Furman Armstrong, New York Times reporter and author of books about her interviews and travels with Eleanor Roosevelt; Congresswoman Frances Bolton of Ohio; and Majorie Hendricks; owner of the Watergate Inn, located where the Kennedy Center now stands.
From 1946 through the early 1950s, chapter members lent their expertise to the larger community by offering workshops on media relations to women's and civic organizations. The chapter also published a handbook on how to get news into print, a publication provided to media workshop participants.
In 1951, the chapter initiated Rachel Carson, biological scientist, editor, and author of The Sea Around Us. Her book raised the national consciousness about water pollution and was published that year.
When ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment dominated the news, the chapter presented Sey Chassler in 1980, early feminist and editor-in-chief of Redbook. In 1976, Chassler had organized an unprecedented mutual publishing effort among 36 women's magazines that detailed the ERA parades and helped publicize ERA events.
Chapter support for equity in pay and hiring practices has taken many forms, including a forum of women representing government, media and organizations, workshops for female college students interested in the media, and participation in an early Women in Communications survey on equal pay for equal work.
As television and then cable became media forces, the DC chapter examined relevant issues such as challenges to First Amendment rights, the gag rule, and camera in the courtroom and in congressional hearings.
Today, with the explosion in communications technology, the DC chapter continues to offer vital information, support and assistance to women communicators.
Held each year in May, the Matrix Event is the chapter's main event of the year. The chapter presents its Matrix Award for Professional Achievement to a top woman in the communications profession for her work in the field and on behalf of women communicators. Also at Matrix, the chapter awards a merit scholarship to a young woman student who has shown achievement and potential in the field of communications. The chapter began awarding the scholarship in 1991 in an effort to support and promote women in careers in the field of communications.
Chapater photo archives
We are beginning to collect photographs for the chapter's photo archives. If you have pertinent information or photos, send e-mail to
