[5] In 1967, Zonia Bowen founded Merched y Wawr in response to officials not allowing the local Women's Institute branch, near Bala, to operate in the Welsh language.
[6] Bowen served as the organisation's first national secretary, and as the founding editor of its Y Wawr magazine, which she ran for six years.
[2][4] During her time with the group, she organised several international trips for its members, including to the Soviet Union in 1975.
[2] She resigned as honorary president in 1976, severing ties with Merched y Wawr, because she had envisioned it as a secular, nondenominational organisation open to everyone, but others wanted to incorporate Christianity into its activities.
[4][5] Bowen was also prominently involved in the Madryn campaign, which opposed the dumping of nuclear waste in Wales.