A quick snapshot of the most important issues for the World YWCA:


Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, HIV and AIDS

HIV/AIDS is the largest global emergency to face women and girls in our lifetime

HIV and AIDS has been the World YWCA’s priority issue for nearly a decade.

HIV/AIDS infection rates among women are rising disproportionately to men in every region of the world. The issue of HIV/AIDS is strongly linked to the issues of violence against women and women's sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

When HIV/AIDS affects women, it affects entire families and communities, including millions of children who are left orphaned and vulnerable. Since 1999, the World YWCA has mobilised women and girls in local communities to respond to HIV and AIDS. YWCAs in over 70 countries have developed a solid base of programs that address SRHR and HIV and AIDS.

World YWCA promotes male and female condom programming as part of the solution to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In Australia female condoms are only available online.

» Find out more at the World YWCA website 


Violence Against Women, Human Rights

At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime (UNIFEM 2008)

Violence against women (VAW) is a global problem and women and girls are susceptible to abuse and violence at every stage of their life.

Through advocacy and services, YWCAs across the world are working to ensure women and girls in their communities can live lives free of violence.

In nearly 70 countries, YWCAs provide services for women facing violence and abuse. For many women, the YWCA represents a safe space. From providing shelters and safe houses in the USA, Canada, Zambia and Sri Lanka to campaigns to prevent trafficking championed by YWCAs in Finland, Belarus, Albania and Samoa, national and local YWCAs around the world are committed to seeing an end to violence against women.

» Find out more at the World YWCA website 


Peace with justice

Peace has always been an important priority for the World YWCA

Founded in 1855 in the context of the industrial revolution and the Crimean War, the YWCA has for over one and a half century been sensitive to the particular situation women and girls face during conflict and war.

YWCAs across the world are responding by providing shelter, protesting against war, supporting women in conflict areas and urging women’s participation in democracy and conflict resolution.

» Find out more at the World YWCA website 


Economic empowerment and environmental sustainability

According to some estimates, women represent 70 percent of the world’s poor.

There cannot be a sustainable future while huge numbers of women and girls live in poverty.

Sustainable development seeks to balance environmental protection, healthy economic growth and social equity. Ending poverty is one of the most pronounced problems for creating a sustainable future. 

Sustainable development, including women’s economic justice and the environment, is a global priority for the World YWCA movement. The YWCA policy on sustainable development calls on the movement to take action in building just and sustainable communities, taking into account a gender and human rights approach, and acknowledging that social equity and care for the environment are critical elements in the development process.

» Find out more at the World YWCA website