About SWG
SWG's Mission
The Society of Woman Geographers (SWG) is a global community created to foster meaningful and inclusive connections, share knowledge, encourage research and exploration, and provide mentorship and support for a diverse network of bold, woman-identifying researchers, scientists, explorers, and change-makers.
Our Vision
SWG supports the limitless potential and curiosity of woman-identifying scientists, artists, explorers, and advocates as they work to create positive impacts in the stewardship, study, and exploration of human culture and the natural world.
Our Definition of Geography
SWG defines geography as follows: Geography is the study of places and the relationships between people and their environments. Geographers explore both the physical properties of Earth’s surface and the human societies spread across it. They also examine how human culture interacts with the natural environment, and the way that locations and places can have an impact on people. Geography seeks to understand where things are found, why they are there, and how they develop and change over time.
Our History
Four exceptional women founded SWG in 1925: Marguerite Harrison, Blair Niles, Gertrude Emerson Sen, and Gertrude Shelby. These recognized explorers wanted to bring together women who shared ambitions and interests in exploration and achievement, exchange knowledge derived from field work, and encourage women pursuing geographical exploration and research. In naming their organization the Society of Woman Geographers, the founders intended the word “geographer” in its broadest sense.
In SWG’s early years, there were still many unknown places and populations to be visited and studied, and members were in the vanguard of courageous explorers. Air transportation was just beginning when one of the first SWG members, Amelia Earhart, made her solo flight across the Atlantic. Margaret Mead pioneered much of modern anthropology. Mary Douglas Leakey helped discover the earliest humans at Olduvai Gorge in Africa.
With time, as communication and transportation have made the world a smaller place, and opportunities for women have expanded, there is still a place for an organization devoted to multidisciplinary intellectual exchange and support among women. Today our members are connected in ways our founders could not have imagined.
In 1931, SWG established a flag carrying program. Members have carried the flag on expeditions to the top of Kilimanjaro to Antarctica and from the depths of the ocean to outer space.
SWG has also awarded hundreds of fellowships to women studying for advanced degrees in geography or its allied fields, as part of carrying out the vision of our founders to “further geographical work, to spread geographical knowledge, and to encourage geographical research.”
In 1991, SWG acquired a building on Capitol Hill where the Society maintains a museum and library.