Although many women presently reject traditional roles, they continue to serve as advocates for various cultural groups that lack power. The phenomenon of "new volunteerism" may be an example of the advocacy that is emerging from the rejection of the caretaker role. The "new" volunteer may serve as board member, committee chair, and so on for nonprofit organizations such as the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). The recognition of a conflict between feminism and racism prompted the YWCA adoption of "The One Imperative," which reveals a militancy that intimates a recent attitudinal change and may well reflect a change in role identification and advocacy motive. A dramatistic analysis bounded by Kenneth Burke's pentad technique (what, how, when, who, and why) is a means of providing insights into the motive for the advocacy expressed in the Imperative. It reveals that the traditional role of caretaker, rooted in mystical philosophy, could no longer serve in its social capacity as a "higher" purpose for whites or for women. The demands of the transition to a new pragmatic philosophy called forth a role that better suited the identifications women were choosing and minorities were demanding. Advocacy, backed by power sharing, was the method demanded by the situation and responded to in the rhetoric of a new philosophy. The YWCA, as an organization uniquely capable of responding to the needs of women and minorities, was the only agency of its kind to do so. Its effectiveness was ensured at inception by the public nature of the act, its militant style, and its systemized audit process. (HOD)