Women's Christian Temperance Union
The Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is the oldest continuing non-sectarian women's organization in the US. Founded in Evanston, Illinois in 1874, its purpose was to combat the influence of alcohol on families and society. Frances Willard, a noted feminist, was its second president.
They took their definition of Temperance from the Greek writer Xenophon: "moderation in all things healthful; total abstinence from all things harmful." Thus the temperance approach to alcohol was defined as total abstinence.
The WCTU also formed in Canada in 1874, in Ontario. In 1885 Letitia Youmans founded a nationwide organization which was to become the leading women's society in Canada's temperance movement. In addition to campaigning against alcohol, the WCTU addressed social ills stemming from drunkenness such as domestic violence. It also campaigned for reforms that would improve the status of women in society, such as the right to vote. The WCTU was a major force in Prohibition-and was also influential in creating laws banning prostitution and recreational drugs in the United States.
Current issues for the WCTU include alcohol, which the organization recognizes as North America's number one drug problem, and illegal drugs. The WCTU has warned against the dangers of tobacco since 1875. Gambling and pornography remain among the obsessions they combat.
