World YWCA research: World Council 2023

In 2019, 4 years ago and before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, I was in Johannesburg for the 29th World Council of the World YWCA movement. This week, thanks to the invitation of my friends at World-Affiliated YWCA of South Africa, I have attended the 30th World Council, which was held for the first time in a hybrid format with the majority of delegates online, and the World Board and World YWCA secretariat staff meeting in person in Geneva.

World YWCA Secretariat pose for a group photograph
at the close of 30th World Council, 1 December 2023

2 Eleanors ... me posing next to my laptop as my pre-recorded greeting
was broadcast to World Council on 29 November 2023

Palestine

The World Council re-elected Mira Rizeq of Palestine as its President, and passed two resolutions in support of YWCA Palestine, and the YWCAs of Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan. Resolution 'Peace With Justice' affirms what it names as 'our duty to practice genuine solidarity with young people living under military occupation, ...oppression, violence, and insecurity' and to 'Mobilize support for peaceful and just resolutions of ...the situation of apartheid in the Palestine/Israel'.

Resolution 'Promoting human rights and supporting the region’s movements work towards their sustainability' decries 'the Israeli military colonial occupation, forced displacement and migration, economic war and sanctions, extreme human rights violations' as it introduces the situation faced by the YWCAs of the Middle East and seeks support for the work in the context of 'massive displacement, territorial fragmentation, marginalization, and extreme instability'.

Some other resolutions and statements

This week, the World YWCA has adopted a statement against what it names 'anti-feminism', proposed by YWCA Netherlands, and a resolution to support the rights of indigenous women and girls in line with UNDRIP (United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) proposed by YWCA Canada. Both promise to be important milestones for a movement that has historically shied away from formally describing itself as feminist, and which in its much further history been complicit in European (mainly British) colonisation of the territories in which the majority of the world YWCA movement currently resides.

The transnational influence of the YWCA of the USA

Attending two consecutive World Councils as an observer has given me a valuable insight into the work of the World YWCA, especially after spending time at the World office in Geneva this summer. Above all, the inequalities within the movement are starker when considering that the proceedings have been more accessible to me as an outsider and a researcher than to many of the women who constitute the movement. 

As part of my current project, I have informally written about some of the power dynamics within the World YWCA movement, which you can read about on Medium under the following headings:

Leadership: Who makes the decisions? How has this changed over time?

Anti-racism: Statements of anti-racism in the 60s and 70s

Power: What transnational power dynamics shape the YWCA movement?

I've also put together a Timeline covering the history of the World YWCA and YWCA of the USA during the period 1945-2023. This is a living document covering a long and rich period in history, so I'll continue to update it with relevant YWCA milestones and projects as I go along.