The Independent Women's Forum (IWF) is an American conservative, non-profit organization focused on economic policy issues of concern to women. IWF was founded by activist Rosalie Silberman to promote a "conservative alternative to feminist tenets" following the controversial Supreme Court nomination of Clarence Thomas in 1992. IWF's sister organization is the Independent Women's Voice (IWV), a 501(c)(4) organization. The group advocates "equity feminism", a term first used by IWF author Christina Hoff Sommers to distinguish "traditional, classically liberal, humanistic feminism" from "gender feminism", as she discussed in Who Stole Feminism?, which she says opposes gender roles and patriarchy. According to Sommers, the gender feminist view is "the prevailing ideology among contemporary feminist philosophers and leaders", and "thrives on the myth that American women are the oppressed 'second sex.'" Sommers' equity feminism has been described as anti-feminist by critics.
