Why does the YWCA maintain an all-woman board?
The information below is the national protocol on gender issues and YWCA’s. In April 2006, YWCA’s from the United States voted to give local YWCA’s the option to be gender neutral, thus allowing the possibility of men as voting members and/or serving on the YWCA board. The YWCA Pierce County voted to be a gender neutral YWCA. We are currently waiting for the criteria in order to petition to allow men as members, which is being established at the national level . We will update information about this as we move forward on this issue. The YWCA retains an all-woman Board of Directors not to protect the outcome of our votes, or to stifle diversity of opinion, but to create an environment where women and girls can learn to lead effectively without the influence of centuries of socialization that have taught us to defer to men. In our pursuit to create opportunities for women and girls to lead purposeful, powerful lives, we believe that allowing men to direct and govern our organization woul
