NMPW’s Name: To Change, Or Not To Change?
At the annual meeting on Saturday, April 17, 7-9:30 a.m., NMPW members will consider changing the name “New Mexico Press Women” to a gender-neutral alternative. Register your opinion in the poll to the right and by leaving comments below, and vote at the membership meeting on April 17!
Read an argument in favor of changing NMPW’s name
Read an argument in support of keeping NMPW’s name
One Response “NMPW’s Name: To Change, Or Not To Change?”
Maybe I was the Poster-Woman for the “vote NO” on NMPW/NFPW name changes in the 1990s. I have changed my stance. Back then, I was evaluating where I was putting my energy and what my core interested were. Maybe I am doing the same now, but with an opposite result.
The integrity of journalism and communications, in their many, many manners of expression (print/electronic, written/spoken, press/media, reporters/pr, words/photos, print/broadcast, marketing, teaching, etc, etc.) seem even more threatened than the “equality for women” thing seemed in my concerns 18 (15?) years ago. I have enjoyed working with the men who have joined our group. We *all* lose big-time, if our name prevents other serious, journalism-credible people from joining because they are cutting-edge Tweeters (or some other modern form of Journalism), schooled in journalistic principles, *or* because they are men, not seeing a “Welcome” sign in our name.
So, I am happy to change the name, if it means we can continue to focus on our roots and we can continue to recruit and enlist new members into the group that mentors or nurtures growth in our field and maintains its dedication to integrity and principles of good practice and ethics.
(I find I am remembering my teen years when I became one of the first girls to serve at the church’s altar -an Episcopalian Acolyte- and how shocking it was to some older members. Within 20 years, the girls became the dominate members of the acolyte group and few boys made the time for it. No gender was affixed to the title; it was just that more girls were more interested in joining than boys.)
I no longer care what we call ourselves. I care that the mission of our group remain and reach out to the future.