oa Storming The Hague - The 1930 Campaign for Independent Nationality for Women Regardless of Marital Status

Married women’s independent nationality was the lead issue among feminists in and around the League of Nations for most of the 1930s. This campaign began a process of acknowledgement of women’s rights as a serious international issue which women themselves had a right to shape. The international feminist campaign for independent nationality for wives began in 1930, in connection with a League sponsored legal conference in The Hague. It then moved to the League of Nations itself, as feminist activists descended on Geneva to try and halt ratification of the conference findings. Although they failed, the issue remained alive into and through the early years of the United Nations, where independent nationality for women regardless of marital status ultimately was achieved. This contribution will recount the interwar history of this feminist project, focusing on the international dimension of this campaign, and highlighting in particular forgotten key actor(s) from the Americas and the Easts.