Board Members (Gender Justice)

The Institute for Research on Male Supremacism (IRMS) is seeking applicants to join our board of directors to lead and support our organization. We are a small, primarily volunteer organization that is able to have a significant impact through our network of dozens of fellows and mentees based globally. Our volunteer board is a semi-working board, composed both of board members that support specific elements of IRMS operations and of members that focus on strategic oversight and board cultivation. The Board meets virtually, and as a transnational organization we accept candidates located anywhere.

We are currently particularly interested in candidates to support the following areas:

• Finance
• Fundraising
• Communications
• Legal
• Strategic planning
• Board development

In addition, IRMS hopes to bring on a volunteer co-executive director to our Board in 2024.

WHO WE ARE

Male supremacist ideology is the belief in cisgender men’s superiority and right to dominate, control, or erase “others”: cis and trans women, trans men, and non-binary and gender-nonconforming people. Founded in 2019 and incorporated as a non-profit in 2020, IRMS supports a community of international researchers committed to exposing and challenging common narratives that uphold male supremacist ideology. Our work is shaped by intersectionality and assessing the relationship of misogyny, transmisogyny, and misogynoir with other axes of oppression. We emphasize structural change, shifting discourse in fields such as countering/preventing violent extremism away from “eleventh-hour” interventions toward investing in longer-term solutions such as comprehensive consent-based sexuality education.

WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR

We are seeking individuals who are passionate about our mission. We believe a diverse board is a better board; we encourage applicants from historically and systemically marginalized backgrounds and communities to apply, especially women of color and trans women. 

As an almost entirely volunteer organization, IRMS is exploring a partial working board system. This means, in addition to overseeing the operations of the organization, key board member positions carry out elements of finance, fundraising, and communications. (This article provides more details on working boards.)

These specific needs are in addition to overseeing our mission, strategy, and programmatic work to challenge misogyny and transmisogyny and advance an intersectional feminist vision.

Board members are expected to prepare for and attend monthly (virtual) board meetings and collaborate in ensuring the sustainability and success of the organization.

We estimate board members will spend 5 hours per month on their board commitments. Board members serve a two-year term.