The YWCA of the USA ‘In Service for the Girls of the World’, 1947–1985

Abstract

Before mid-century, the Young Women's Christian Association of the USA (Y-US) was complicit with global northern imperial projects, as its work with women across national borders was characterised by an ethos of ‘imperial maternalism’. Applying Serene Khader's (2019) analysis of imperialism in global northern feminisms shows that Y-US's approach to ‘overseas’ work was ‘missionary’ in its use and promotion of ‘western’ values and strategies. Although Y-US inevitably worked within ‘asymmetrical power relations’ (Grewal & Kaplan, 2000, para.4), in the 1970s its approach shifted as it began to recognise these imbalances. By the 1980s, Y-US's ‘global’ programmes sought out women's context-specific knowledge to identify and critique structural inequalities and US imperialism, characteristic of ‘transnational feminist’ ethic. The contribution of Y-US to the YWCA movement was more complex, and positive, than a perpetuation of cultural imperialism. In its national policy and project planning and evaluations, Y-US continued until the 1980s to apply mixture of missionary and transnational feminist lenses to understand its role and responsibilities as a member of the worldwide YWCA movement, and to grapple with the implications of US power on the world stage.