Highlights

Highlights from the visit

Dorothy Dandridge was the first ever African American to be nominated for an Academy Award. Despite the extreme obstacles facing Black women during her time, she rose to become one of the most celebrated Hollywood actresses and singers, landing lead roles in films such as Carmen Jones and Porgy and Bess. In addition to her Oscar nod, she was also nominated for a Golden Globe and BAFTA Award. Her contributions to the entertainment industry continue to be recognized by many actors today.

See more committee members nominations, then vote for your favorite submission. To vote, visit the YW’s Facebook page and like your favorite submission in the “Summer Soirée Committee Contest” album!

I nominate Audrey Hepburn. Audrey is best known as an iconic actress and fashionista, and is to this day a symbol of beauty and glamour to many. However, her humanitarian work as a Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF proved she had much more to offer than her looks. She dedicated years of her life to helping impoverished children in Africa, Europe and South America, and was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian for her efforts. She is the essence of the YW’s mission of empowering women and eliminating racism.

See more committee members nominations, then vote for your favorite submission. To vote, visit the YW’s Facebook page and like your favorite submission in the “Summer Soirée Committee Contest” album!

My nominee for the W award is Helen Keller, who proved to the world that the “impossible” is possible to achieve- through hard work, self determination and the drive to realize one’s highest aspirations.

See more committee members nominations, then vote for your favorite submission. To vote, visit the YW’s Facebook page and like your favorite submission in the “Summer Soirée Committee Contest” album!

I nominate Eleanor Roosevelt – I think she was a strong, intelligent woman with a strong belief in human rights. She believed that her Declaration of Human Rights was her greatest accomplishment. I have to agree.
 

 
See more committee members nominations, then vote for your favorite submission. To vote, visit the YW’s Facebook page and like your favorite submission in the “Summer Soirée Committee Contest” album!
 

For women around the world and particularly for those active in the World YWCA, the annual CSW conference in New York at the United Nations has become a major event for airing women’s issues and seeking remedies through the UN body known as the Commission on the Status of Women. The Commission (CSW) was established in 1946 by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the UN and has the responsibility for promoting women’s rights in all areas – political, economic, civil, educational, and social – as well a mandate to enact proposals of the last world conference on women held in Beijing in 1995.

Delegates and guests at World Service Council Reception February 24th

The CSW itself consists of 45 members from as many countries and all continents who meet for 10 days each year in March. This year some 2005 delegates attended the session, which focused primarily on the empowerment of rural women. Delegates came from over 150 UN member countries and from 423 NGO’s (Non-governmental organizations) that have an active interest in women’s issues and are accredited at the UN. All members not only attended the official sessions but also a series of over 300 other workshops and meetings where topics of urgent interest were presented and shared. UN Women, the organization created in 2010 and led by Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile, helped to produce and direct the whole meeting.

World YWCA Delegates attend session and WSC reception:

Our delegates came from 20 of the World YWCA’S 120 member countries, with Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, the General Secretary from Zimbabwe and Geneva, as their leader, along with Deborah Thomas, World YW President, from Trinidad and Tobago. Some 35 arrived in time for a World Service Council reception on February 24th where they also shared news of their exciting programs and aims for the conference. A remarkable number of young women attended and presented, including two World interns from the USA and Great Britain and three USA delegates. Australia had a delegation of 10; Nigeria sent 12; and others came from a wide variety of countries such as Finland, Sweden, Egypt, Ethiopia, Korea, Japan, Myanmar, Palestine, Zambia and of course, the USA.

Many of the delegates stayed for the full ten days of the conference, hearing special speakers such as Michelle Bachelet and Leymah Gbowee, recent winner of the Nobel peace prize, from Liberia. There were also several impressive panels presented by World YW leaders such as one led by Nyaradzayi with four representative rural women and another led by Bonnie Fatio on intergenerational dialogue and support. All left with the hope that their recommendations would result in action by the Commission and renewed efforts for next year’s session on Women and Violence. For further extensive reports on various sessions, please look at the World YWCA website; worldywca.org, and also read a splendid report by the young USA women delegates on the WSC website: ywcaworldservicecouncil.org

We thank our hostess at CIBC, Kathryn Casparian of the YWCA NYC, and our guest leaders Gloria Lau, CEO of the YWCA USA; Deborah Stock, YWCA USA President; Marcia Sells, President of the YWCA NYC; and Martha Kamber of YWCA, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Connie Tate. WSC Chair,
and the WSC Hostesses involved:
Joyce Mims, Mary Wolf, Mildred Persinger, Joelle Logue, Grace
Richardson, Carolyn Flowers, and Doris and Rima Salah,
 

I would nominate Julia Child for the W Award for not only breaking the glass ceiling at the famous Le Cordon Bleu by being one of its first female graduates, but for also bringing the art of French cooking to the US, revolutionizing cookbook publishing, paving the way for a future generation of women television food personalities — and for bringing people from around the world together at the table. With three Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, a National Book Award, a cover of Time Magazine and the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, Julia Child, our lady of the ladle, will continue to be a shining example for generations that determination, passion, and perseverance are the ingredients to changing the world one plate at a time.
 

 
See more committee members nominations, then vote for your favorite submission. To vote, visit the YW’s Facebook page and like your favorite submission in the “Summer Soirée Committee Contest” album!
 

I would like to nominate Queen Elizabeth I for the W Award. She personifies empowerment.

The first Queen Elizabeth, whose name has become synonymous with the era she dominated, was the first English ruler who recognized that a monarch rules by popular consent. Her era saw the advancement of England as a military might, restored the Anglican faith, the flourishing of literature led by playwrights Shakespeare and Marlowe, and the seafaring prowess of English adventurers such as Drake and Raleigh. She ruled her country effectively through council for 45 years in a time when women were still considered inferior to men. And Elizabeth did this all without a husband, marriage negotiations constituting a key element of her foreign policy! Elizabeth insisted that she was married to her kingdom and subjects, and spoke of “all my husbands, my good people,” and asserted her independence until the end of her life. Elizabeth was a charismatic performer and a dogged survivor, and her unification of England in spite of plots and conspiracies rightly attaches the label “England’s greatest monarch” to this queen.
 

 
See more committee members nominations, then vote for your favorite submission. To vote, visit the YW’s Facebook page and like your favorite submission in the “Summer Soirée Committee Contest” album!