Project Proposal

International Women’s Movements and Transnational Feminism: International Women’s Organisations in the Interwar Years

Muthunlakshmi Reddi, founder-president of the Women’s Indian Association, stated at the 1933 International Council of Women that “from its infancy, the women’s movement was international in character”.[1] From the late 1800s, women from a variety of nations exchanged ideas and worked together on issues such as suffrage, marriage, and education. This includes through various international women’s organisations, beginning with the International Council of Women, founded in 1888.[2] Traditionally, women’s movements have been studied through national frameworks, practically ignoring these international and transnational aspects. Although these dimensions have received increasing attention through the ‘international turn’ in women’s history, international women’s organisations, especially for suffrage, have been “almost entirely overlooked”.[3]

The limited existing scholarship centres around three main organisations: the International Council of Women, International Woman Suffrage Alliance, and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Despite proclaiming to represent “women of the world”, scholars such as Leila Rupp and Sumita Mukherjee have emphasised their overwhelming Eurocentrism, including in members, locations, and aims.[4] The interwar period, however, saw increased internationalism and diversity in international women’s organisations, both through membership and the foundation of non-Western organisations including the Inter-American Commission of Women (1928) and All-Asian Women’s Conference (1931). While such organisations have received some scholarship, Eurocentric organisations remain the dominant focus.[5]

This project seeks to address these various oversights and analyse international women’s organisations during the interwar years. Specifically, while examining the main organisations, criticise their Eurocentricity and explore more overlooked non-Western examples and their  efforts to decentre networks and organisations. Three leading research questions drive this project. Firstly, what were the aims of international women’s organisations and how effective were they? Secondly, what was their geographical locations, regarding both memberships and where they convened? Finally, what was their significance and contribution, including in affecting national campaigns? A primarily transnational approach will be used to analyse how issues, ideas, and networks transcended national borders, including with a transnational feminist approach to focus on more marginalised women. I will also use some comparative and micro-historical aspects to compare different organisations and follow certain individuals’ contributions. Various primary sources will be used to achieve this, including letters for personal insights; and organisations’ publications such as Jus Suffragii, and conference invites and reports for information on events, news, and aspirations.

At present, I argue that international women’s organisations significantly contributed to various movements including women’s rights and suffrage, both internationally and nationally. Countering the idea of a ‘global sisterhood’, however, the main organisations’ Eurocentrism overlooked non-Western perspectives and retained imperialistic attitudes. Although increased internationalism and representation in the interwar years challenged the Eurocentrism, non-Western women continued to face challenges and marginalisation. Nevertheless, the temporal frame of the interwar years is significant and valuable, including in demonstrating colonised women’s organisation, contributions, and reclaimed agency in the years prior to decolonisation. Additionally, women’s interwar international collaborations exemplify the ability to overcome international issues and tensions to work towards shared goals: an effort which remains crucial for various current issues, including environmentalism. These reasons, alongside the various scholarly oversights on international women’s organisations, drive and give merit to this project.

[1] Muthulakshmi Reddi, ‘Creative Citizenship (1933)’, in Maureen Mynagh and Nancy Forestell (eds), Documenting First Wave Feminisms, Volume 1: Transnational Collaborations and Crosscurrents (Toronto, 2012), p. 203.

[2] Leila Rupp, ‘Challenging Imperialism in International Women’s Organizations, 1888-1945’, NWSA Journal, 8: 1 (1996), p. 9.      

[3] Ann Towns, ‘The Inter-American Commission of Women and Women’s Suffrage, 1920-1945’, Journal of Latin American Studies, 42: 4 (2010), pp. 779-780.

[4] Rupp, ‘Challenging Imperialism’, pp. 8-27. Sumita Mukherjee, ‘The All-Asian Women’s Conference 1931: Indian women and their leadership of a pan-Asian feminist organisation’, Women’s History Review, 26: 3 (2017), pp. 363-381.

[5] For examples on non-Western organisations, see: Towns, ‘Inter-American Commission of Women’, pp.779-807. Shobna Nijhawan, ‘International Feminism from an Asian Center: The All-Asian Women’s Conference (Lahore, 1931) as a Transnational Feminist Moment’, Journal of Women’s History, 29: 3 (2017), pp. 12-36.