Description
This paper looks at the formation and role of the IFUW at the League during the decade of ‘internationalism’ (1920 – 1933)) and how they advocated for greater involvement of women in the League’s Committees and other form of international cooperation. One of the defining features of the Covenant of the League of Nations was that it stated that ‘all positions under or in connection with the League, including the Secretariat, shall be open equally to men and women’ (Article 7) and this explicit reference to the equality of women in participating in international organizations has not been given due attention. This paper therefore uses the IFUW as a case study to (a) look at internationalism in the League and its Committees, vis-à-vis’ how women participated; (b) the meaning of ‘equality’ in the context of the Covenant; and how the IFUW functioned as a norm-developer for the equality of women in international society during the period 1920 – 1933.
