Marilyn H. Fowler

Marilyn is Founder and President of the Women's Intercultural Network (WIN), a non-governmental organization consultative to the United Nations, based in San Francisco, California that links women across cultures globally and in U.S. communities for collective action.

WIN currently coordinates CAWA - The California Women's Agenda, state follow-up to the 4th World Conference on Women, Beijing, China, September, 1995. CAWA is the anchor project for WIN’s mission to ‘assure that the voices of all women and girls are heard in public policy forums.’ CAWA, founded in the Bay Area in 1996, has become an active web of over 600 organizations throughout California and has become a prototype organizing model for other states and countries developing coalitions for social change.

Marilyn's work with the women's movement began in the late '60s when she formed the first Information and Education Committee for the national Board of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the first PPFA Public Affairs Committee. That Committee became a prototype for Public and Community Affairs action committees throughout the U.S. during the '70s and ‘80s to defend women's right to birth control services and safe, legal abortion. She has represented PPFA and other women's organizations at United Nations International Conferences on Women and Population.

Before moving to San Francisco in 1992 Marilyn served as Executive Director of the World Affairs Council of San Diego (WAC) for three years; Director of Information, Education and Training for Planned Parenthood of San Diego four years; and prior to that as Director of Training for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Region VII Family Planning Training Office for seven years in Kansas City, Missouri.

While Executive Director of WAC in San Diego, Marilyn coordinated over 300 foreign policy and cultural events, including Japan Festival '92, an eight day series of cultural, business and educational events. She founded the International Women's Action Council in San Diego during her tenure with WAC which became the inspiration for WIN, which she incorporated in 1995. WIN served as the Regional Field Coordinator for the Pacific West Coast Regional Summit on Africa in 1999-2000.

Since 2001, WIN has led delegations of US women to Uganda, Afghanistan, China and Japan and has hosted women in California from Uganda, Japan and Afghanistan each year from 2001 – 2006 on the “Calling the Circle of Women for Full Participation in Democracy” initiative.

Marilyn has served on the Board of Directors and consulted with such organizations as The Association for Women in Development, (AWID) Washington, DC; Japan External Trade Organization, Los Angeles, CA; Japan America Society, San Diego and Los Angeles; Planned Parenthood Federation of America, New York; African Development Foundation, Washington, D.C.; Survival Skills Education & Development for Women, Manhattan, KS; and the Global Forum for Women. Marilyn holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration (MPA) with a focus on Organization Development. She has three sons, Lee, Thomas and Christopher.

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