The Ukrainian National Women's League of America (UNWLA), the oldest and largest Ukrainian women's organization in the United States, is celebrating its centennial in 2025. Founded in 1925, the organization has been supporting women of Ukrainian descent for over a century, promoting the preservation of cultural heritage and building strong communities.
This was reported by UNWLA – Ukrainian National Women’s League of America, Inc.
In the year of UNWLA's 25th anniversary, the organization's first president, Yulia Shustakevych, described its creation in this way.
“It was not easy for the founders of the Ukrainian Women's Union of America to start a women's organization. None of us had the appropriate training, but it is clear that those eight women who first gathered on March 12, 1925, and laid the foundation for this organization had a “lucky hand,” and their plans were blessed by God... Ukrainian women in America sought to unite, to seek understanding and community. The emergence of the organization was a natural step,” says UNWLA.
The mission of the Ukrainian Women's Alliance of America is to develop women's leadership, preserve Ukrainian traditions and build a more just and inclusive society for future generations.
“There's a saying that not every bird can fly to the middle of the Dnipro. It is the same with organizations - not every organization will live to be 100 years old. And especially if it is created around the idea of a country from which the Muscovites tried so hard to leave only the name. Over the past year and a half that I have been with the UWA, I have learned a lot about the history of Ukrainian women's activism. It was interesting to learn how Ukrainian women were full partners in the political and social creation of the UPR, and then in supporting and building strong organizations that aimed to unite Ukrainians and help them preserve their identity abroad. The first allied women made a huge contribution to the creation of the diaspora as we know it today and continue to build it. They managed to preserve and multiply Ukrainianness here, across the ocean, when it was being exterminated and uprooted at home... I believe that by making the story of these women and many of their like-minded colleagues known to modern Ukrainian women at home and abroad, we will give a little more strength to Ukrainian women who are carrying so much on their shoulders and add feathers to the wings of future generations.” said Anna Berezniak.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the Union's founding, UNWLA planned a number of events and initiatives throughout the year.
Author: Danylo Pievchev