Published for International Women’s Day 2025

Joseph Wresinski was the founder and defining figure of ATD Fourth World. But it would not be the force it is today without the women who believed in his vision of a world without poverty.

The women described below became Volunteer Corps members who chose to live in solidarity with people in poverty. They took on various responsibilities within ATD, often far from their homes. They worked tirelessly for the rights of all people in poverty, including women, mothers, and young girls, so their knowledge would be recognised and their dignity respected.

These women inspired our movement to spread and they still inspire today. We are introducing them to you, so that their legacy will live on and continue to inspire us and our hope for a world where no one is excluded because of poverty.

Meet Gabrielle, Mary, Sulma, and Huguette.

Gabrielle Erpicum

By Thomas, ATD Fourth World Volunteer Corps member in France

Thomas’s first job with ATD was to help Gabrielle write a book about her sixty years’ experience with ATD Fourth World. He was apprehensive the first time he met her in March 2020. After all, he was about to meet the woman who was Wresinski’s trusted assistant for decades, and then served on ATD Fourth World’s International Leadership Team and had for years welcomed new Volunteer Corps members.

Thomas remembers the first time they met:

“It was an incredible opportunity for me to start as a Volunteer Corps member, because it was Gabrielle who welcomed me into ATD Fourth World.”

He goes on to say how much the welcome made an impression on him because, from the start, he was received as someone with something to contribute. Gabrielle listened to him and took his ideas into consideration. Sometimes they had disagreements — they didn’t hesitate to challenge each other, which helped them see each other’s point of view. From that collaboration, a real friendship was born, despite the fifty-year age gap between them.

For several months, right in the middle of the Covid pandemic, they continued to work together on how to convey the message of ATD Fourth World through Gabrielle’s writings in a way that would resonate with young people. For Gabrielle, this book, which was published in 2021, was not “her” book but “their” book — hers, Thomas’s, and Ugo’s, another Volunteer Corps member who worked with them. Thomas says,

“You can really feel a breath of fresh air in her writing; she gives it momentum; she draws people in. […] At over 80 years of age, she still believes in it wholeheartedly.”

The first thing that comes to Thomas’s mind when he thinks about how she inspires him, is the place she left for other people — her attitude towards them and her attention to what each person had to say. It encourages him to welcome others similarly and try to ensure that everyone can find their place.

Thomas also points out Gabrielle’s firm belief that we can make a difference. He says,

“Hope is a discipline; you have to believe in it; it’s something you have to work at. And Gabrielle is one of those people who just won’t give up. We can and we will make it happen, she thought. She has incredible charisma.”

He adds,

“When you have moments of doubt, the best thing to do is spend time with Gabrielle. She gives you a boost, and in record time you’re off again with renewed strength.”

Mary Rabagliati

By Charlotte, ATD Fourth World Volunteer Corps member in training in Belgium

I first heard about Mary at a session last November in Frimhurst for young newcomers to ATD. During that week, we went to the Fourth World House in Addington Square in London, where we met Diana, who is writing a book about Mary, and who was delighted to share Mary’s story with us. Through Mary’s writings, stories from Diana, who knew her personally, and the series of videos The Story of Mary Rabagliati and People the World Forgot, we delved into her work and her long history with ATD.

What first came to mind as I listened to Diana talk about Mary was how the story of ATD’s founding was very much focussed on Joseph Wresinski, and less on the people around him. Learning about Mary, in a way, gave me a completely different view of ATD and how it was created. I thought it was incredible that I had not heard of Mary before, even though she had helped build ATD.

It is inspiring to see how a woman who came of age in the 1950s — not great years for women in general — left all traditions aside to go to a country where she did not speak the language, and go and live in Noisy-le-Grand (where ATD was founded and based at the time). Her beginnings with ATD are impressive, because she showed through her strength of character the possibility of breaking with tradition to fight for a more inclusive society that respects human rights and the dignity of each person.

Where Mary’s story really inspired me was the connections she made between different causes, notably through her involvement in the fight for civil rights in the United States. In our determination to overcome poverty, I find it essential to understand the different forms that poverty can take and the other forms of discrimination and inequality that cause or reinforce poverty. Once again, Mary’s activities in the United States really surprised me, particularly when I learned that she went to Alabama in her free time to investigate civil rights violations in hospitals. Everything Mary did demonstrates a personal commitment, beyond any job responsibilities, to embrace a struggle that never stops. I find this essential in understanding the forms our participation can take, and how a commitment to one cause can transfer to another, both linked to challenging and overcoming an oppressive model of society.

Finally, where Mary’s story inspired me a lot was in her fight for the rights of women living in poverty. Her involvement in the World Conferences on Women and her impact on obtaining rights (for example, abortion rights, birth control, ban on forced sterilization/abortion, family planning) was immense. When I arrived at ATD, I was not aware of its commitment to feminist causes, and discovering these elements, I think, encourages young people to get involved, especially those concerned by these issues.

Mary succeeded in making connections between different causes and always worked for the direct participation of people in order to express their needs and demands. She inspires me in my commitment to overcoming poverty, which can take different forms and intersect with other forms of discrimination, exclusion, and oppression. The struggle to overcome poverty gains strength as it evolves alongside and in conjunction with other causes and movements. It can inspire a personal commitment that changes and evolves over time without losing its basic principles.

Sulma Erika Flores Rojas

By Sylvia, ATD Fourth World activist in Guatemala

It was thanks to Sulma that I started to get more involved with ATD Fourth World. I became the facilitator of our youth group because I was the oldest. I prepared the schedule with Sulma, helped with logistics and supplies, and attended all the meetings. At the same time, Sulma encouraged me to focus on my studies, reminding me that I was capable and had the potential to achieve even more. She guided me throughout her five years in Escuintla (a town in Guatemala where an ATD Fourth World team is present), and continued to do so even after she moved and had different responsibilities. She encouraged me in my projects and my studies.
When I told her I was going to graduate, she was disappointed she couldn’t be there, but she was very happy for me. The day I graduated from the University of San Carlos de Guatemala, I spoke to my family on a video call and my mother had asked Sulma to join the call. I hadn’t known she would be with us on the call; it was such a lovely surprise that I started crying.

Sulma’s dedication has inspired me to understand more about young people, because they are the future. Today I am a high-school teacher and will soon graduate with a degree in educational administration. I have made progress despite my shyness as a teenager and my nervousness about speaking in front of other people, and it’s all thanks to Sulma, who continues to inspire and support me.

Huguette Redegeld

By Julie, ATD Fourth World Volunteer Corps member in Belgium

It was around 2:00 p.m. when I arrived at ATD’s international centre in Méry-sur-Oise. It was my first time there and I was impressed. The train ride from Brussels had gone by fast, but I still had time to imagine my meeting with Huguette. We had been talking for weeks about this interview about ATD Fourth World’s participation in the first World Conference on Women organized by the United Nations in Mexico in 1975. That was the extent of our contact. Huguette was waiting for me with Volunteer Corps member Agathe Herubel, on the steps of the Manoir (a building at the international centre). Our first meeting took place over a curry lunch, along with stories about the beginnings of ATD Fourth World in Belgium, how the café next door to the Fourth World house in Brussels hadn’t changed, and the upstairs apartment had fortunately changed a little.

After the meal, we settled on the sofas to begin the interview. During the two hours we spent talking, it was Huguette’s warmth that struck me the most, and also her sensitivity when she spoke about her own commitment and that of other Volunteer Corps members. It’s about never giving up but not becoming inflexible or dogmatic.

I am a young Volunteer Corps member. Although I have known ATD Fourth World for many years, mainly through street libraries, questions about my involvement first arose through the causes of ecology and feminism. When ATD became a bigger part of my life, it seemed important to me not to separate these causes from overcoming poverty. Instead, I wanted to try to understand how they could enrich each other.

My meeting with Huguette reminded me of the importance of being interested in other people’s causes. She wisely pointed out that building strong links between us is essential, but we must not overlook the value of using existing platforms and working at different levels. The 1975 World Conference on Women is a good example. While focusing on feminist causes and the issues facing society at the time, ATD brought its expertise by emphasising the importance of solidarity among all women, especially those who were the most excluded. Using a common language that denounces all oppression and domination strengthens the fight against poverty and gives strength to others.

Doing this means using everything at your disposal. Huguette told me —and ATD’s archives that I read confirmed — that not everything went smoothly during the 1975 World Conference on Women. Carrying copies of the Fourth World Women’s Charter, Huguette, Mary Rabagliati, Alwine de Vos van Steenwijk, and Joseph Wresinski, had to work hard to make sure that it was read and that it found its place in a “conference that had already been co-opted by the governments made by men” (de Vos, Feuille de route 66, 9 October 1975). Using every tactic, speaking with everyone they came across, and even placing a copy of the charter in front of each delegate’s bedroom door, they succeeded in making the charter one of the most widely read documents at the conference.

Here in Belgium, I work with a group of women on poverty-related gender issues. Volunteer Corps member Bénédicte De Muylder and I are trying to explore not only their concerns but also the conditions necessary for real inclusion for all in the feminist movement. Knowing that this objective was already part of a previous struggle by Volunteer Corps members like Huguette, is inspiring for the future.

Related Link: https://www.atd-fourthworld.org/the-unrecognised-women-of-the-fourth-world/