| Biography | The movement that resulted in the World YWCA began in England in 1855 in the midst of the Industrial Revolution and the Crimean War. Founded through the convergence of social activist Lady Mary Jane Kinnairds General Female Training Institute, and committed Christian Emma Robarts Prayer Union, it sought to be a social and spiritual support system for young English women.
Due to the nature of Kinnairds interest in work abroad and the expansiveness of the British Empire, the initiative spread rapidly to western and northern Europe, India, and the United States.
The first world conference of the YWCA was held in 1898 in London, with 326 participants from seventeen countries from around the world. It was a pivotal point in the founding of the World YWCA, cementing the principles of unity based on service and faith on a global scale.
In the beginning of the twentieth century, a profound shift began to occur within the YWCA. While industrialization had been a founding concern of the association, it had sought primarily to insulate women morally and socially from urban life. During the 1910 World YWCA conference in Berlin, however, the voices of thousands of working women from the United States were heard, and these objectives began to change. A resolution was passed requiring the association to study social and industrial problems, and to educate working women about the social measures and legislation enacted in their behalf. Thus the social conscience of the YWCA was born into the form that it maintains today.
Until 1930 the headquarters of the World YWCA were in London. The executive committee was entirely British, with an American General Secretary. This policy resulted in a resolutely Anglo-Saxon lens through which the association viewed the world. In 1930, however, the World YWCA headquarters were moved to Geneva, Switzerland, the same city as the newly-formed League of Nations. This was both symbolic of the drive to become a more diverse association, and to enable itself to fully participate with other organizations in Geneva (such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and the YMCA.)
In the UK the organisation changed its name to Platform 51 in December 2010 to reflect changing attitudes and to distinguish itself from the YMCA, and because the women and girls who use the charity wanted it. The re-branded charity retains affiliations with the national and international YWCA umbrella organisations. The name reflects the proportion of the population that are female.
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