Opposing Colonialism: the Women's International Democratic Federation and decolonisation struggles in Vietnam and Algeria 1945–1965

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article argues that the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) was a major force in promoting anti-colonialism after 1945. The article traces how and why the WIDF came to support anti-colonialism from the mid-1940s to 1965. Part of the answer lies in the cosmopolitan vision and background of the membership of the WIDF that included increasing participation from nationalist and communist women from Asia and Africa. By sharing their views on colonial oppression the WIDF as a whole came to recognise the links between colonial oppression and women's oppression. Focusing on Vietnam and Algeria, this article analyses the strategies the WIDF used in its anti-colonial activism. One strategy was to document the effects of colonialism on the women of Asia and Africa and to publicise their experiences of ongoing colonial wars. A second WIDF strategy was to provide a platform for women from colonised countries to promote anti-colonialism through its congresses and appeals and by lobbying the United Nations (UN), especially in relation to the violation of UN conventions and principles. The article presents a new history of transnational anti-colonial activism.