Our story
1915: WCC IS FOUNDED
On August 3, The New York Tribune reported: “A group of seven public-spirited women formed the initiatory committee, which has invited one hundred representative New York women to compose the organizing committee.”
1915: EDUCATION & CIVIC ACTION
Frances Perkins, a WCC charter member in 1915, helped lay the foundation for over a century of civic education and power-building for women and gender expansive New Yorkers.
1916: FIRST OFFICIAL MEETING
WCC incorporates, forms an Organization Committee of 100, and holds its first official meeting on January 31, 1916.
1917: EDUCATION
WCC leads efforts to support women's admission to Columbia Law School.
1917: EDUCATION & VOTING RIGHTS
Under the leadership of Carrie Chapman Catt, WCC helped secure women’s right to vote in New York State. This was a pivotal victory in the national suffrage movement.
1918: HEATLH & REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE
We opened the nation’s first maternity center, launching a 110-year legacy of advancing maternal health and reproductive justice in New York City.
1923: EDUCATION & POLICY
Eleanor Roosevelt and Margaret Woodrow Wilson joined WCC, strengthening our legacy as a home for visionary women shaping inclusive urban policy.
1924: ECONOMIC JUSTICE
WCC drafts and wins landmark child labor legislation and launches a statewide push for a 48 hour work week for women turning advocacy into lasting civil rights reform.
1930: ECONOMIC JUSTICE
WCC advocated for better public housing and more women in management, advancing power and equity for NYC families.
1944: ECONOMIC JUSTICE
WCC supported a bill mandating equal pay for equal work, challenged the employment of minors in industrial jobs, & opposed abolishing the NYS Department of Labor’s Women’s Division and Division of Minimum Wage.
1960: ECONOMIC JUSTICE
WCC joined the March for Freedom and Jobs in Washington, D.C.
1964: ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
WCC supports a Brooklyn Bridge urban renewal plan, and criticizes the quantity of low-income housing and the City’s plan to expand subway system
1969: HEALTH & REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE
WCC supports a bill for an all-out repeal of the State’s Abortion Law.
1975: ECONOMIC JUSTICE
After WCC’s advocacy, Mayor Abe Beame creates a 30-member Commission on the Status of Women and appoints WCC President Edythe First as its first Chairperson.
1988: ECONOMIC JUSTICE
WCC organized the Coalition for Homeless Women to address homelessness among women, a commitment that drives lasting change today.
1990: SAFETY
WCC co-hosted a groundbreaking sexual harassment conference with Anita Hill, sparking a pivotal movement.
1999: SAFETY
WCC cosigns an advertisement in The New York Times to protest police brutality and call for improved relations between the police and the communities they serve.
2006: HEALTH & RREPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE
WCC advanced policies to improve behavioral health coverage and extended the statute of limitations in rape cases, strengthening support and justice for survivors.
2010: ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
Fighting for clean environments and equity, in 2010 Women Creating Change opposed drilling that threatened NYC’s water supply and pushed for recyclable take-out containers and a Styrofoam ban to protect public health.
2017: GENDER EQUITY
WCC participates in the massive Women’s March on New York City in support of equality and civil rights and to advocate for economic, gender, and racial justice for all
2017: ECONOMIC JUSTICE
WCC participates in the Campaign for New York Health rally and lobby day in Albany in support of a universal single-payer health care measure
2020: EDUCATION
NYC entered lockdown and Women Creating Change quickly moved online, hosting our first virtual Table Talk with Jacqueline M. Ebanks to highlight pandemic challenges for women, including unemployment and caregiving.
2020: EDUCATION & VOTING RIGHTS
Women Creating Change joined the Our City Our Vote Coalition to help secure voting rights in NYC for green card holders and legal workers who have lived in the city for at least 30 days.
2023: ECONOMIC JUSTICE
Sixty years after the Equal Pay Act, Women Creating Change and The New School released the State of New City Women Gender Pay Gap Report revealing why pay equity has stalled and calling for urgent action to close the gap.
2024: ECONOMIC & REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE
WCC releases the Unequal Ground Report with the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School and works with New York Liberty to inspire civic action and advance reproductive justice.
2024: EDUCATION
WCC partners with University Settlement on Civic Leadership Training Cohort.
2025: STATE OF NYC WOMEN CONFERENCE
WCC hosts inaugural State of NYC Women Conference at Civic Hall bringing together community partners, funders, elected officials, education institutions, unions, private sector, and grassroots leaders to share strategies, deepen civic engagement, and advance equity.
