Looking back to look forward

Hello WILPF US members,

Congratulations on your 110^th anniversary! Earlier this week, more than 100 WILPF women and allies gathered from across the country in Zoom to celebrate WILPF’s world-changing work and trailblazing WILPF women. View the video here. Thank you for all that you do. In these times we’re in, we need WILPF more than ever.

Two months into my role as your new executive director, I remain grateful for your inspiring stories and your focus on the hard work. In April, I met with passionate WILPF women in Pennsylvania – Tina Shelton, Sylvia Metzler, Pam Albright, Nyota Robinson, Susan Smith, and Marci Henzi – all pictured above. Over the past weeks, I’ve also met WILPF members in North Carolina, New York, Illinois, and Washington. The consistent message I’ve heard you say is that you want to feel more connected across the country. You want to continue to do good work locally, and at the same time, unify nationally in the current political climate. You’ve also told me that you want WILPF US to be more diverse – and to grow – so we can be ready for another 100 years.

In response, WILPF US is embarking on a re-envisioning process: to honor our history and to also show up in new ways and new places. To start this process, I will host a series of virtual dialogues: to connect WILPF members across the country as humans first, to learn from your experiences, and to understand your personal goals as activists and collective goals for the future of WILPF. Your voices are essential to our re-envisioning process and enabling WILPF US to remain bold and operational. I’m excited to hear from you and will share more information in the coming weeks about how to get involved.

Promoting WILPF in new places

I have been introducing WILPF US to new people and organizations to plant seeds for potential collaboration. In February, I facilitated a dialogue on safety, stability and conflict at the Rotary International Peace Conference in Istanbul and promoted WILPF US in my interview with Northwest Asian Weekly as a Rotary peacebuilding honoree. I’m happy to share that we have secured a fully funded intern from Rotary International to support WILPF US’ research this summer on campaigns that are successfully mobilizing people nationwide, and to help identify niche opportunities for WILPF US to lead.

In March, I facilitated a dialogue at the Chicago Women’s History Conference. I asked participants: What is your community’s most valuable or untapped resource? The women in the room said: “Time, intergenerational collaboration, and wisdom of elders.” I asked: What do you need? “For us women to listen to each other, to have women’s dialogue across difference in community and in politics, to lead by example,” they said. I am listening and I will build your words into the ways I organize on behalf of WILPF. Thank you, Carron Little, Director of the Chicago Women’s History Center and WILPF Chicago Co-Chair, for inviting WILPF into the conversation. And thank you WILPF women at the conference – Chicago Branch Co-Chair Reverend Zenobia, WILPF US Co-President Martha Collins, and WILPF US Women, Money & Democracy Committee Chair Marybeth Gardam – pictured above, for your leadership in these times.

Wise words from WILPF members and allies

I’m absorbing your collective wisdom to build a work plan that is responsive to WILPF US’ movement needs. At last month’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), I met with the WILPF International Secretary General and joined WILPF US members in meetings with allies. I believe in the wisdom of the crowd, so I asked young people who had never interacted with WILPF before, and current WILPF members, what they want WILPF to stand for on the intersectional issue of militarization and the environment, which was the feature topic of a WILPF US panel.

🌳 WILPF US member Alan Haber said: “Focus on the 2026 midterm national elections to redirect the government…and support the "Move the Money" campaign. To cut the pentagon budget and shift funds to human needs, and to engage local city councils and congressional representatives wherever we have a chapter or WILPF activists.”

🌎 Jacinta Bailey, college student new to WILPF, said: “I was 10 when the “war on terror” began. Really, it was a war for the control of oil. I remember seeing the rhetoric around how the war was saving women, yet every person that spoke was not a woman. The current way of leading is not working. So, what is the new leadership that the world needs right now? We need women, especially women, and men making decisions to prevent conflict, to reduce the amount of harm being created in the first place. Our systems have been designed to exclude women, but they can be redesigned.”

I aim to continue to crowdsource your wisdom. I invite you to answer the three questions I pose below by emailing me at lindalow@wilpfus.org with your answers.

❤️ What WILPF woman inspires you?

🌎 What is your biggest change-making moment with WILPF?

🌻 What do you want for the future of WILPF US?

Take care of yourselves so we can take care of each other

I’ll close my update with these words I heard recently from poet Hanif Abdurraqib: “Now is the time where we have to get proximate and tactical. Ask your neighbors if they need help. Ask people in your community what they need. Maybe it’s something tangible like a meal, maybe it’s an act of kindness like listening. No one is coming to take care of us, so we have to take care of ourselves and each other.”

Take care of yourselves, fearless WILPF women, and let’s continue to take care of each other.

Linda Low

WILPF US Executive Director

P.S. That’s me and mom, taking care of each other ❤️

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