History of PWE

The concept for PWE grew out of a dream conceived by the organization’s founder, Maureen White Eagle. White Eagle has over 25 years of experience in small business and non-profit management. She is an attorney who after operating a successful private law firm for 17 years, decided to devote her time and efforts to non-profit organizations. She then worked for four years as a director in a large international student exchange organization.

More recently, she developed and managed a legal services program for Native American survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault at the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center. Additionally, she has written and edited resources to assist tribes in developing sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking, and sex offender registration laws through the Tribal Law and Policy Institute. She is passionate about the need to empower indigenous and other women marginalized by society and the need to ensure that all people can work and live cross-culturally.

The ideas that were germinated during White Eagle’s work experiences found sustenance while she was a Bush Leadership Fellow in 2005 – 2006. She spent the year researching barriers confronting community organizations working to improve conditions for women and children in several countries. Staff in many organizations discussed their hopes, dreams, and frustrations in building the capacity to address local problems. White Eagle soon recognized that the problems experienced in these communities in Kenya, Vietnam, Thailand and Brazil resonated with the problems of Native American communities back home in rural Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota.

White Eagle’s observations during her Bush Fellowship led her to form Partners for Women’s Equality.  PWE develops the leadership skills and capacity of marginalized women to find their own solutions as well as linking them with successful women leaders across the region, country and world. Upon returning to the US in April 2006, White Eagle developed a strong organizational board of directors.  The Board incorporated as a Minnesota nonprofit in June 2006.