Transnational Women's Organizations in the Early Cold War: The ICW, IAW, and WIDF in Comparative Historical Perspective

This paper will explore the relations between the three main international women’s organizations in the post-1945 period: the International Council of Women (ICW), the International Alliance of Women (IAW), and the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF). The ICW, founded in 1888, focused on peace, international cooperation, and the “equality of rights between men and women in all fields.” The IAW was established in Berlin in 1904 as the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA), and renamed IAW in 1926. The organization self-identified as “feminist” and as more radical than the ICW. The Communist-inspired WIDF, founded in Paris on 1 December 1945, espoused four principles: women’s rights, better conditions for children, anti-fascism, and lasting peace. All three organizations were actively involved in the United Nations. 

Despite their obvious importance, no comprehensive studies of any of the major international women’s organizations after 1945 exist. In addition, except for the brief mentioning of the WIDF in the work of historians Rupp, Offen, and Berkovitch, other historical studies of women’s movements and feminisms, while claiming to be “global” and inclusive, ignore this organization altogether.  

My research in the archives of the ICW, IAW, and WIDF has shown that the relations between the three were complex from the beginning, and basically went from bad to worse. The WIDF, in which many well-known and high-powered women were involved (Communists, social democrats as well as feminists), was not very positive or complimentary about the older women’s organizations, the ICW and IAW. The latter two felt very threatened by this successful newcomer, and developed strategies to outmaneuver it. The aim of the paper therefore will be to show how profoundly the broader political context of the Cold War influenced international feminism in the post-war era.