ICUUW's global gatherings take place on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month at 10 AM Eastern Time. Find your local time.
If you wish to join, please send your request to
Since we began these online gatherings March 31, 2020, dozens of people log on twice a month for a cross-continental meeting, creating on computer screens a gallery of women’s faces from Australia, India, Japan and the Philippines, to Kenya, Uganda, several European nations, and across Bolivia, Canada, and the U.S.
“At first, though I didn’t know most of the women; I appreciated having the connection in a difficult time. As the faces started to seem familiar, I looked forward to talking to some of the same women and meeting new ones,” said Gevene Hertz, who joined from Denmark.
The idea was to “offer a participatory activity to allow women to connect in a time of isolation, uncertainty, and distress.” - ICUUW Executive Director Zsófia Sztranyiczki
A line from a poem offered by Rev. Audrey Brooks in Canada declares that “there can be no isolation if words are shared.” During the pandemic, these words never ran truer.
At each gathering, the participants are divided into breakout rooms to share thoughts and feelings in small groups of four or five women from around the world.
“I’m so glad I started participating… to hear from women in different states, different countries… to share what it [the lockdown] means to us,” Jeannie Lewis of Texas told her “breakout” group.
A Unitarian minister from Transylvania, Rev. Júlia Jobbágy, has served as moderator and recalled that at first she could not really imagine how these international meetings would work; over the weeks, she has seen the rewards of global connections. “It gives me so much strength to be able to hear and talk with women from Australia, the USA, the Philippines, Canada and so many places from Europe …. We share the same emotions, same concerns, same problems and we are awaiting to face the same global problems,” Rev. Júlia said.
There has been a topic for discussion at each meeting ranging from haiku writing to coping with grief and loss to environmental pledges on Earth Day, which included reducing the use of plastics, eating less meat, and using our consumer power to buy environmentally friendly goods and services like green energy.
A special theme during the 2020 COVID lockdown was a celebration of Mother’s Day with music, meditation, and talks by former ICUUW president Rev. Addae Kraba and Unitarian leader Gizella Nagy from Transylvania, reminding all that this period would pass, and reaffirming U*U women’s commitment to empowering women and girls everywhere.
In 2022, the gatherings broadened from spiritual to more educational topics, including gender-based violence, armed conflicts and peace, and engagement for gender equality. On October 11, 2022, ICUUW board member Deb Pritchard gave a passionate speech about climate change, asking participants for suggestions and ideas that she could pursue in her capacity as an ICUUW representative while attending the27th UN Climate Conference (COP27) in Egypt (November 6-18, 2022).