Press Release, 09-11-2001

IIAV wins the Joke Smit Prize

The Netherlands, 9 November 2000:

On November 27th, the Minister for Social Affairs and Employment Annelies Verstand will award the Joke Smit Prize to the International Information Center and Archives for the Women's Movement (IIAV), the national centre of expertise in information on the position of women and women's studies in the Netherlands.

A jury, chaired by former Justice Minister W. Sorgdrager, nominated the IIAV for the prize. The prize consists of a donation of fifteen thousand guilders (approximately $ 6.000) and a work of art by Marijke de Goey.

According to the jury, the IIAV has fundamentally contributed to improving the position of women. For 65 years the IIAV has in a very professional manner collected, made accessible and disseminated information about women. The jury also expressed great respect for the projects and activities the IIAV has organized at the international level. One example is "Mapping the World of Women's Information Services and Centers", a database available online in which more than 300 women's information services in more than 120 countries are described and their services made accessible. Another example is the organization of the Know How Conference on the World of Women's Information in 1998. The conference resulted in a continuing cooperation between women's information services, in which collective information resources are developed.

The IIAV has collected and maintained the cultural heritage of women since 1935. The national and international collection consists of books, archives, magazines, online databases, address lists and an image library. Since 1996 the development and theory of women's studies and providing information to black, migrant and refugee women form the main focus of policy in the collection. By effectively implementing information and communication technology and using the Women's Thesaurus (a list of terms developed by the IIAV) the service provided by the IIAV increasingly meets the needs of the client.

The government prize for emancipation is named after the outstanding Dutch feminist Joke Smit, who died in 1981. The prize is awarded once every two years to a person, group or organization that has fundamentally contributed to improving the position of women in Dutch society.

This is a translation from the original Dutch-language press release issued by the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment.


This message has been published by the IIAV's Communication & PR department
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