The idea of reviving a Jewish national home after 2,000 years of exile seemed almost overwhelming. A group of very strong women, whose husbands were involved in Zionist activity, felt that women should have a distinctive and equal role in the return to Zion. Some of these women were also suffragettes, struggling for the political right of women to vote alongside men in England.
These women, led by Rebecca Sieff, Vera Weizmann and Romana Goodman, wives of prominent Zionists and powerful personalities in their own right, founded a “Ladies Committee” within the British Zionist Federation in 1918.  On January 12, 1919, they held the founding conference of a Women’s Federation in Britain in London for the purpose of setting up a Women’s Federation in Britain. This eventually became known as the Federation of Zionist Women, later British WIZO, and today WIZOUK.

Mission Statement

The Women’s International Zionist Organization is a nonparty/apolitical international movement dedicated to the advancement of the status of women, welfare for all sectors of Israeli society, and encouragement of Jewish education in Israel and in the Diaspora.

Our Vision

A Zionistic, humanistic Israeli society based on equal opportunities, focused on education and welfare for women children and youth, in cooperation the Jewish Diaspora.

Our Goals

• To provide for the welfare of infants, children, youth, women and the elderly.
• To advance the status of women in Israel.
• To strengthen the bond between world Jewry and the State of Israel.
• To support the absorption of new immigrants.

WIZO was founded in 1920 in direct response to the needs of women and children in Israel.

Today, WIZO continues to identify the needs of Israeli society and creates solutions to meet them.

Now 250,000 members strong, WIZO is the main agent of change for women, children and youth in Israel.