Organization founded to address the needs of women immigrants in Palestine.
Established in London on 11 July 1920 by the Federation of Women Zionists of the United Kingdom, the Women's International Zionist Organization (WIZO) focused on agricultural training for women immigrants in Palestine, and on these women's role as citizens and as primary providers of education to children. The founders and leaders of the movement were Vera Weizmann, Edith Eder, Romana Goodman, Henrietta Irwell, and Rebecca Sieff, who served as the first president of WIZO until her death in 1966.
Initially headquartered in London, the organization established a network of federations throughout the world (except in the United States and the USSR). A member of both the World Zionist Organization and the World Jewish Congress, WIZO is now based in Israel, where it supports numerous institutions, such as baby homes for children of pre-school age, youth clubs, summer camps and kindergartens for schoolchildren, secondary and agricultural schools, and community centers in border settlements and development towns.
Bibliography
Marder, Lucy, and Avner, Yossi. Speaking for Women. Tel Aviv, 1990.
— SHIMON AVISH
