A Call For Solidarity, Leadership, and Action

Image by Shamsia Hassani, Afghanistan’s first female graffiti artist

To Our 200 Sister YWCAs Throughout the United States and To American YWCA Supporters:

As part of a global sisterhood of YWCAs — one of the largest women’s organizations in the world — America’s YWCAs have a particular responsibility to work to ensure the safety of Afghanistan’s women and girls.

It is clear the situation is dire. Despite public statements to the contrary, women and girls are in imminent danger for no other reason than the fact that they are women and girls. For 20 years, both political parties in the U.S. White House and Congress, alongside other global leaders, championed women’s efforts to “return to their rightful place in Afghan society.” The women of Afghanistan stepped forward to rebuild their country and expand women’s rights. Now, those activists are at even greater risk.

We are calling on our country’s YWCAs and YWCA supporters to build on efforts in your own communities and to continue the YWCA traditions of solidarity and bold leadership.

Contact your elected officials now and demand the U.S. government immediately and meaningfully engage with the organizations which are actively working to protect our sisters in Afghanistan and get them to safety…something that governments have failed to do themselves.

Click here to find your elected officials.

For additional insights and resources, go to the YWCA Westfield.