YWCA Canberra is one of the longest-standing community organisations servicing the city. Bound in the history of Canberra, the YWCA has been shaping itself in response to changing local and societal contexts. They believe in investing in young women leadership and as a part of the YWCA movement, are an active advocate […]
Like many other youth, when I was 15, I felt lost and had no idea about my future. I’d listen to the other girls in my school share what they want to be after graduating and explain in detail how they will achieve their goal, and I usually just nodded […]
The leadership space within Australia has always been indicative of the elitism that has long been profound within the country. Throughout my life, it was evident that I did not look like any of the leaders that were in the media. For one, the hijab on my head ‘othered’ me. […]
Early October of 2020, the World YWCA welcomed ten young women leaders from different corners of the world as members of the newly designed World YWCA Leadership Cohort Programme. Considering the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the programme was adapted for cohort members to collaborate remotely with World YWCA and virtually […]
Stories of Five Pioneers and Leaders from the YWCA Movement The COVID-19 pandemic unmasked the ugly reality facing young women and girls who were trapped in close quarters with their abusers, facing issues of employment and income generation and managing the multiple burdens around health and access to resources. It […]
Trigger warning: discussions of sexual and gender-based violence For Geneva Peace Week 2020, World YWCA and Norwegian Church Aid got together to amplify young women’s voices – quite literally! Over the course of two podcasts hosted by Chhavi Sachdev, we listen to four women from different corners of the globe as they […]
“Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin.” Dwight Eisenhower, 34th US president The world as we know it today is marked by uncertainty. What is not in doubt, however, is the prevalence of violence globally and locally. A culture of extremism and terror has been established and peace […]
Story of Tina Herrera While most of her peers were fitting in the societal expectations of what an ideal woman should pursue in her career, or to fulfil a more traditional gender role, Tina Herrera was training as a mechanical engineer, a field that was highly dominated by men. Self-assured […]
Story of Ashkhen Aslikyan Born in a small village named Berdavan in Armenia, Ashkhen’s upbringing was conservative. There was so much she couldn’t talk about then because regressive attitudes of people within her community. It took the Armenian young woman leader close to a decade to fully embrace the ideology […]
Story of Vera Syrokvash For Vera Syrokvash, at the age of six years old, she was already a solitary feminist though unaware of it. As a child, Vera often did not understand why girls were treated differently. Her desire to argue and finding out the truth was not encouraged. There […]
