Research:
Some of the Donna Allen papers are located at
the National Women and Media Collection at the University of Missouri.
Other Donna Allen papers and documents are located at
the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press.

Some of the Donna Allen's
Media Philosophy and Writings:
Six Point Communication Program for Restructuring the World's Communications System on the Basis of Democracy
Women's Two Level Communications System
A Radical Feminist Analysis of Mass Media
Three Principles of Feminist Journalism
Seven Realities for a Respectful and Peaceful Communications System
A NEW PHILOSOPHY OF COMMUNICATIONS

A Few of Donna Allen's Articles:
Media Accountability Systems of American Women

Article in The Quill Magazine "The Eight Characteristics of Women's Media that are different in our Media from Men's Media and the Five Categories of Women's News"
Article in the Spring 1973 issue of Women Strike for Peace Memo "Male Manipulation of the Mass Media - If Women Had More Media Power Would the Press Be More Free?"

American National Biography Online: Donna Allen

Campaigning for Peace and Equality / Democratizing the Media

Other Links

Donna Allen Memorial

Selected Books and Biographical Materials

"Seeking Equity for Women in Journalism and Mass Communication Education, A 30-Year Update," edited by Ramona R. Rush, Carol E. Oukrop, and Pamela J. Creedon. (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, NY, 2004)

"Reason and Radicalism: The History of Donna Allen And Women's Activism in Media," by Danna L. Walker, 2003. Ph.D. Dissertation.

"Inadequate Media and the Failure of the National Health Insurance Proposal in the late 1940's," by Donna Allen, 1971. Ph.D. Dissertation.

20th Anniversary of the National Women and Media Collection in 2007

The July and August, 2007, celebration included an exhibit on Donna Allen:

The Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia, MO, in 2007 has been celebrating the 20th anniversary of the National Women and Media Collection. As part of the celebration, they have had rotating exhibits in the lobby highlighting some of the more prominent collections. Donna Allen was featured July and August, 2007.

Thanks to:
Jennifer S. Lukomski
Senior Manuscript Specialist

Excepts from The Girl I Left Behind: A Narrative History of the Sixties, by Judith Nies

"My first encounter with WSP [Women Strike for Peace] had been when I first began working for WILPF [Women's International League for Peace & Freedom] in 1976. Donna Allen, who was a member of both WILPF and WSP, telephoned and asked me to join a delegation that was going to appear before the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) . . . (p. 181)

"'What is your budget for this year?' asked Donna Allen, a PHD economist who wore trim business suits and whose youthful face was framed by prematurely white hair rolled into a Katharine Hepburn hairstyle. The AEC budget was secret. Allen pointed out that all the gentlemen's salaries at the table, generals and civil servants alike, were paid by taxpayer money. There is no such thing as government money, she said, only taxpayers' money. 'I believe we are paying for these nuclear tests; we are entitled to know something about them.' (The Test Ban Treaty prohibited aboveground nuclear testing, but not underground testing, which was ongoing.) I never forgot her confidence, or the legitimacy of her question." (p. 185)

* * * * * *

WIFP Founder Donna Allen at the 4th Annual WIFP Conference
National Press Club, 1982

Donna and Martha Allen with WIFP Interns and Associates, 1992.
Elizabeth Johnson (front), Donna, Chris Delboni, Martha and Brenda Burns.

* * * * * *

Women and Media: The History of an Activist's Fight for Equality: Donna Allen and The Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press
(Paperback, 380 pages, LAP Lambert Academic Publishing) (Amazon price: $114.00 USD; some inexpensive used, in good condition, also available)
by Danna Walker, Ph.D.

Review of Women and Media: The History of an Activist's Fight for Equality: Donna Allen and The Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press

Description
Even women who flooded the field of journalism during the Second Wave of the Women's Movement had little knowledge of the relentless campaign by women in the movement, in media, government, law, and politics to reform media. In this book, media feminist scholar Danna Walker reveals the evolution of the women's media activism that flourished when feminists began defining news -- often identified as the main source of discourse in a democracy -- as a gendered field representing a male-dominated society. The story is told through the life and work of Donna Allen, founder of the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press, a think tank that helped to legitimize women's place in the public sphere. The Institute's newsletter, Media Report to Women, was the only source for much of the historical record on class action lawsuits against media companies, nationwide challenges of broadcast licenses, and the other landmark reform efforts by women working to change society. This book contributes to a growing body of research into the impact of women's media activism over the last 40 years on media reform, public perceptions, media technology, and communication history and education.

About the Author
Danna Walker, Ph.D., studies media with an emphasis on gender studies, feminist theory, and new media. She has authored numerous articles in academic journals, on Web sites and in the mainstream media.

Back to 'About the WIFP'

Back to WIFP home page