Our Mission

AROHO is the preeminent nonprofit institution working on behalf of women writers today. The $50,000 Gift of Freedom Award is given every two years and is the largest grant of its kind to women in the United States.

A Room of Her Own Foundation’s Mission is…

To change the future by empowering women to bring their unique voices and perspectives to the marketplace
To educate the broader community about the impact that women’s literature and art have had and will have on our society
To build a community of moral support and practical resources designed to inspire, facilitate, and encourage women writers and artists
To bridge the gap between a woman’s financial reality and her artistic creation

Why We Do What We Do

A New York Times Book Review survey of literary leaders voted Toni Morrison’s Beloved the single best work of American fiction published in the last 25 years.

How can it be that…?

All four winners of the 2009 National Book Award (for Poetry, CNF, Fiction, and Youth Literature) were men
14 out of 57 winners of the National Book Award for Fiction are women (2007)
14 out of 55 winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction are women (2008)
21 out of 85 winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry are women (2008)
Women writer’s won 63% of the awards but less than 30% of the money in awards and grants reported by Poet’s & Writers (Jan/Feb 2003)
In 2008 all but 10 of the Pulitzer Prize finalists for Fiction and Poetry were women
Only 21 women have won writing awards in the 80 years of the Oscars (2007)
Of the major artists represented by major New York galleries only 16% are women
A recent study by the Coalition of Women’s Arts Organizations showed that in all one-person shows for living artists in American museums, only 2% of the featured artists were women
A 1992 study that only 17% of artists in galleries nationally were women, whereas the Bureau of Labor indicated that 48% of professional American artists were women
51% of all visual artists are female and women hold 53% of art degrees, but 80% of art faculty members are male
68% of total art income in the U.S goes to men and 73% of all grants and fellowships in the arts go to men