Research On The International Woman Suffrage Alliance(1904-1926)

The International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA) was founded in 1904 in Berlin. It was one of the most influential international women’s organizations in the early 20th century. The IWSA was based on the development of the women’s suffrage movement in the main western countries and the thought of the sisterhood. At the beginning of the IWSA, it focused particularly on the issue of woman suffrage. Its aim was to secure the enfranchisement of the women of all nations and to unite the friends of woman suffrage throughout the in organized cooperation and fraternal helpfulness. Through holding the international women’s conferences, undertaking the international speaking tours and publishing the monthly journal Jus Suffragii, the IWSA promoted the development of the international women’s suffrage movement. After the WWⅠ, as more and more countries had granted women enfranchisement, the IWSA began to concern the issues of equal pay for equal work to men and women, and the nationality of married women. In 1926, the IWSA changed its name to the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship. Then, the IWSA evolved to a new stage.From the founding in 1904 to the renaming in 1926. the scale of the IWSA was expanding and the structure of it was increasingly improving. And. through the transnational network, the IWSA played a more important role in promoting the development of the international women’s suffrage movement. However, because of some limitations of the IWSA, the influence of it in Non European and American regions was weak. And. the IWSA was difficult to fulfill its international development requirements.