A New Era in International Women’s Rights?: American Women’s Associations and the Establishment of the UN Commission on the Status of Women

Abstract

Whilst historians have assessed the international impact of ideological differences and organizational rivalries between U.S. women’s associations in the interwar period, the continuation of these differences and their impact on the new international framework on women’s rights which emerged post-1945 have, thus far, been ignored. This article explores and assesses the extent to which rivalries between U.S. women’s associations continued in the post-1945 world, shaping different attitudes towards the establishment of the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations. It traces the cooperation of key U.S. organizations with their government to try to prevent the establishment of the commission. The article will describe how this position changed as a result of both emerging national interests and pressure from international colleagues in the international women’s movement. The article will thus explore and assess the complex and shifting competing claims of national and international identity for American women activists.