The Young Women’s Council provides a youth lens to the organisation
Young women’s leadership is a key tenet of YWCA Australia’s purpose, making young women’s leadership and women’s housing our priority for gender equity in Australia. The Young Women’s Council was established in 2018 and since then, we’ve seen the amazing work they’ve done and the bright minds of Australia’s young people in action.
We recognise we can engage with the Council better and the importance of taking the time to do this correctly, to ensure we get it right.
What’s happening now?
The Young Women’s Council is a constitutional requirement for YWCA and this is not going to change. YWCA is committed to the provision of a Young Women’s Council that is meaningful, a positive opportunity for Council members and, above all, not tokenistic.
To make this happen, we’ve put the Council on hold for a year and will be pausing its operations until 1 July 2023.
Why? What changes are being made?
The biggest change we’re making is in how we align the Young Women’s Council to our advocacy activities. Young women and gender diverse people’s voices are a powerful driver for change and their involvement here would be of great value in achieving our long-term outcomes – ensuring young women and women experience greater safety, security and wellbeing in their homes.
We’re also making some changes to the way that the Council operates, putting our focus onto strategic projects and developing their capability in policy, advocacy campaigning and digital mobilisation.
We are also changing when we recruit new Council members. In the past, we’ve done this towards the end of the year, around the same time as Board Director elections. By moving it to April, we can ensure the Council gets to be involved in strategic planning throughout the entire financial year.
What’s next?
We’ll be opening expressions of interest for the Young Women’s Council in April 2023. More information about the new Council structure and activities will be available then.
