[1][2] Maureen A. Bryan, founder and chief executive officer of The Voice of a Woman (VOW), earned a master's degree in directing from The Actors Studio in New York (1994) and worked in theatre, film, television and communications, as well as developing programs for youth in communities of greatest need internationally, before establishing VOW as a platform not only to feature the creative work of women in the arts but also "to help build a greater awareness of social justice, civil and human rights issues globally".

[3] Originally based in London, UK, VOW hosted a launch event at the National Portrait Gallery in 2012,[4] and has subsequently curated programs of talks and film screenings, as well as photographic exhibitions in collaboration with Getty Images, the Associated Press and Amnesty International.

[2] In November 2018, the Voice of a Woman Festival, sponsored by Miu Miu, HBO and Kodak, was held at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, featuring the work of film directors, photographers, artists, actors and filmmakers such as Agnès Varda, Ava DuVernay, So Yong Kim, Crystal Moselle, Zoe Cassavetes, Chloë Sevigny, Naomi Kawase, Haifaa Al Mansour, Dakota Fanning, Hiam Abbass, Miranda July, Massy Tadjedin, Giada Colagrande, Lucrecia Martel, Alice Rohrwacher, Ming Smith, Lynn Hershman Leeson, and Adepero Oduye.

[6][7] The VOW Awards were first presented in 2012 and recipients in the UK, US and France have included: Scilla Elworthy, Nicola Benedetti, Zoë Wanamaker, Thandiwe Newton, Camilla Beeput, Sylvia Syms, Esther Anderson, Alison Owen, Kim Longinotto, Darnell Martin, Alison Owen, Sarah Gavron, Shola Lynch, Kamala Lopez, Patricia Arquette, Shirin Neshat, Grace Jones, Deeyah Khan, Sarah Gavron, and others.

[9][10] As part of an international travelling series VOW has featured live talk events, with such visionary women as Nina Menkes, Thandie Newton, Naomie Harris, Shirin Neshat, Deeyah Khan, Kim Longinotto, Sarah Gavron, Germaine Greer, Darnell Martin, Sylvia Syms, Zoe Wanamaker, Grace Jones and Dr. Scilla Elworthy PhD .