CELEBRATION

GWI talks about Virginia Cocheron Gildersleeve, one of the three key founders of GWI, formerly known as the International Federation of University Women (IFUW), played an important role in ensuring that women’s rights were incorporated into the United Nations Charter in 1945 in San Francisco. The document pioneered international agreement on norms and standards, programs and strategies for the advancement of women worldwide, creating a level of importance that had not previously been recognized. She dedicated her work to promoting women’s rights in all forms of higher education, encouraging faculty and students to participate in the political movement of the time, creating scholarships and advocating for paid maternity leave for women professors. Gildersleeve was President of the IFUW from 1924 to 1926 and from 1936 to 1939, and her fund has helped more than one million women and girls around the world. GWI continues its work to ensure that all women and girls can receive education beyond primary school worldwide.