Hi friends, welcome. Glad to have you here for the final episode in our series on How Women One World War Two.

Before we wrap up, we need to talk about what happened next.

It was the question on everyone's mind at the end of 1945. The Axis powers have been defeated.

Soldiers were on their way home and the destruction from the war had devastated cities in Europe.

In America, citizens wondered, what happens now?

I'm Sharon McBam, and here's where it gets interesting.

On a chilly October evening in 1946, former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt dined with the board of the Pauquipsi chapter of the year.

The Pauquipsi chapter of the Young Women's Christian Association.

Her presence lent an extra layer of credibility to the YWCA's new national campaign.

After she retired for the evening, Eleanor wrote to the readers of her My Day column.

She said, the National YWCA is just starting a campaign for a round-the-world YWCA reconstruction fund.

They find that there is universal need and desire among women overseas for American help and leadership.

Women in many countries are finding responsibilities thrust upon them to a greater extent, even than in our own country,

because they have lost the finest of their young and older men.

This means that more and more women abroad will be taking part in public affairs,

trying to solve the problems of health and education, and giving the spiritual leadership and moral guidance,

which, under ordinary circumstances, would be expected of the men.

The YWCA and many women's organizations like it were spearheading efforts to send aid to European communities

as they began to rebuild their infrastructure.

And the American YWCA leaders recognized that the roles of European women would be shifting once again.

Eleanor wrapped up her newsletter by saying, in numbers, there is strength,

and we in America must help the women of the world.

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