Oriented toward anti-communism, the organization convened its first meeting in 1952 to answer the question, "what steps should be taken to rally the women of the free world to counteract communist propaganda?
"[1] It did so by cultivating contacts with "correspondents," representatives of women's groups from around the globe who subscribed to the organization's newsletter and participated in its conferences and educational initiatives.
[2] While the organization was a product of Cold War liberalism, one its more influential lines of work pointed to an emergent model of internationalism based more on empowering the grassroots and facilitating small-scale community development rather than middle-class uplift.
In the early 1960s the Committee hired field workers for short-term programs in leadership and skills training for community leaders in foreign countries.
Sarale Owens, a former YWCA executive, earned considerable acclaim during her two years spent in East Africa as a Committee field worker.
[1] After the expose in Ramparts, which was further publicized in a series of New York Times articles,[7] President Lyndon Johnson curtailed CIA funding of private foundations.