YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION (Y.W.C.A.). – Women’s branch Young Men's Christian Association (v.).
The two associations have the same origin, the same aims, and the same methods. The criteria of evaluation followed by the Catholic Church with regard to the Y.M.C.A. also apply to the Y.W.C.A. It should be noted that, in French-speaking nations, the Union chrétienne de jeunes filles was founded by Elisabeth Fuchs and that in France it has been recognized as being of public utility. Its headquarters are in Paris. There are five centers in France, three of them in Paris, one in Bordeaux, and one in La Tronche, near Grenoble. It is chiefly devoted to providing girls with holiday and rest homes.
BIBL.: Ch. Niven, Study of the World's Y. W. C. A., Geneva 1924; The Purpose of the Young Women's Christian Association: Aims and Practice of the World's Y. W. C. A., there 1934; E. Kinnaird, s. V. in Enc. of Religion and Ethics, 12 (1934), pp. 838–41.