Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. In the beginning of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vote, increasing the number of those parties' potential constituencies. National and international organizations formed to coordinate efforts towards women voting, especially the International Woman Suffrage Alliance.
The history of feminism comprises the narratives of the movements and ideologies which have aimed at equal rights for women. While feminists around the world have differed in causes, goals, and intentions depending on time, culture, and country, most Western feminist historians assert that all movements that work to obtain women's rights should be considered feminist movements, even when they did not apply the term to themselves. Some other historians limit the term "feminist" to the modern feminist movement and its progeny, and use the label "protofeminist" to describe earlier movements.
The Washington Naval Conference was a disarmament conference called by the United States and held in Washington, D.C., from November 12, 1921, to February 6, 1922. It was conducted outside the auspices of the League of Nations. It was attended by nine nations regarding interests in the Pacific Ocean and East Asia. Germany was not invited to the conference, as it had already been disarmed under the terms of the Versailles Treaty. Soviet Russia was also not invited to the conference. It was the first arms control conference in history, and is still studied by political scientists as a model for a successful disarmament movement.
Carrie Chapman Catt was an American women's suffrage leader who campaigned for the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave U.S. women the right to vote in 1920. Catt served as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association from 1900 to 1904 and 1915 to 1920. She founded the League of Women Voters in 1920 and the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in 1904, which was later named International Alliance of Women. She "led an army of voteless women in 1919 to pressure Congress to pass the constitutional amendment giving them the right to vote and convinced state legislatures to ratify it in 1920" and "was one of the best-known women in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century and was on all lists of famous American women."
The International Alliance of Women is an international non-governmental organization that works to promote women's rights and gender equality. It was historically the main international organization that campaigned for women's suffrage. IAW stands for an inclusive, intersectional and progressive liberal feminism on the basis of human rights and liberal democracy, and has a liberal internationalist outlook. IAW's principles state that all genders are "born equally free [and are] equally entitled to the free exercise of their individual rights and liberty," that "women's rights are human rights" and that "human rights are universal, indivisible and interrelated." In 1904 the Alliance adopted gold as its color, the color associated with the women's suffrage movement in the United States since 1867 and the oldest symbol of women's rights; through the Alliance's influence gold and white became the principal colors of the mainstream international women's suffrage movement.
The International Congress of Women was created so that groups of existing women's suffrage movements could come together with other women's groups around the world. It served as a way for women organizations across the nation to establish formal means of communication and to provide more opportunities for women to ask the big questions relating to feminism at the time. The congress has been utilized by a number of feminist and pacifist events since 1878. A few groups that participated in the early conferences were The International Council of Women (ICW), The International Alliance of Women (IAW) and The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).
Jeni Bojilova-Pateva, also transliterated as Zheni Bozhilova-Pateva, was a Bulgarian teacher, writer, women's rights activist, and suffragist, who became involved in the pacifist movement. After graduating with teaching credentials in 1893, she began her profession, but was barred from teaching when a law was passed in 1898 that limited the rights of married women. She turned to activism and journalism, becoming involved in the international women's movement that year. A highly prominent feminist, she was one of the founders of the Bulgarian Women's Union in 1901. During 1905 in Burgas, she founded "Self-Awareness", a feminist group, and served as its chair for 25 years. As editor of the Women's Voice she published articles on developments in the women's movement in Bulgaria and abroad, as well as about issues affecting women. Throughout her career, she published over 500 articles and books.
Wilhelmina Hay Abbott, also known by the name "Elizabeth Abbott," was a Scottish suffragist, editor, and feminist lecturer, and wife of author George Frederick Abbott.
Saiza Nabarawi,(Arabic: سيزا النبراوي) also spelt as Siza Nabrawi or Ceza Nabarawi,, (1897–1985) was an Egyptian journalist educated in Paris, and who eventually became the leading journalist for the L'Egyptienne magazine.
First Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance was held in 1902 in Washington D.C. to consider the feasibility of organizing an International Woman Suffrage Association.
The Seventh Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance met in Budapest, Hungary, 15–21 June 1913. As had been the case with all the preceding International Woman Suffrage Alliance conferences, the location had been chosen to reflect the status of woman suffrage: a place where the prospects seemed favorable and liable to influence public sentiment by demonstrating that it was now a global movement. When it had been announced at the sixth congress that the next one would be held in the capital of Hungary, it was felt that the location seemed very remote, and there were concerns that Hungary did not have representative government. In fact, it proved to be one of the largest and most important conventions. Furthermore, the delegates stopped en route for mass meetings and public banquets in Berlin, Dresden, Prague and Vienna, spreading its influence ever further afield.
The All-Asian Women's Conference (AAWC) was a women's conference convened in Lahore in January 1931. It was the first pan-Asian women's conference of its kind. Dominated by Indian organizers, "the AAWC was a vehicle for Indian women to voice their ideas and vision of an Indian-centred Asia". Its predecessor, the All Indian Women's Conference (AIWC), aimed to examine areas of education and legislation to improve the position of women. Like the AIWC, the AAWC aimed to expand this agenda in order to include women in Asia's vision for independence.
The Women's suffrage movement in India fought for Indian women's right to political enfranchisement in Colonial India under British rule. Beyond suffrage, the movement was fighting for women's right to stand for and hold office during the colonial era. In 1918, when Britain granted limited suffrage to women property holders, the law did not apply to British citizens in other parts of the Empire. Despite petitions presented by women and men to the British commissions sent to evaluate Indian voting regulations, women's demands were ignored in the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms. In 1919, impassioned pleas and reports indicating support for women to have the vote were presented by suffragists to the India Office and before the Joint Select Committee of the House of Lords and Commons, who were meeting to finalize the electoral regulation reforms of the Southborough Franchise Committee. Though they were not granted voting rights, nor the right to stand in elections, the Government of India Act 1919 allowed Provincial Councils to determine if women could vote, provided they met stringent property, income, or educational levels.
First Eastern Women's Congress, also known as First General Congress of Oriental Women and First Oriental Women's Congress was an international women's conference which took place in Damascus in Syria between 3 July and 10 July 1930. The conference was arranged by the General Union of Syrian Women under the leadership of Nour Hamada, with participants from the Arab World and Eastern Asia.
Dorothy Jinarajadasa was a Scottish-Indian feminist, suffragette, and writer. Along with Margaret Cousins and Annie Besant, she established the Women's Indian Association in 1917, and was active in efforts to end child marriage and female illiteracy in India. She was a justice of the peace for Madras, and an active Theosophist. She is one of the earliest members of the suffragist movement in India, and is known for her efforts to build transnational networks between suffrage movements.
The 13th Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance was an international women's conference which took place in Copenhagen in Denmark in July 8th to 14th 1939. It was the 13th international conference which was arranged under the International Alliance of Women.
The 12th Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance was an international women's conference which took place in Istanbul, Turkey, in 18-25 April 1935. It was the 12th international conference arranged under the International Alliance of Women.
The 10th Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance was an international women's conference, which took place in Paris in France in May 30 to June 6 1926. It was the tenth international conference which was arranged under the International Alliance of Women.
The 9th Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance was an international women's conference, which took place in Rome in Italy in 1923. It was the ninth international conference which was arranged under the International Alliance of Women.
