Socialist International Women is the
international organization
An international organization or international organisation (see spelling differences), also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is a stable set of norms and rules meant to govern the behavior of states an ...
of the
women
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...
's organizations of the
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
,
social democratic
Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...
and
labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
parties affiliated to the
Socialist International
The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations. ...
.
History
The
Women's International Council of Socialist and Labour Organizations was established on August 17, 1907, at the
First International Conference of Socialist Women held in
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
.
This body constituted the Women's International Secretariat of the
Second International
The Second International (1889–1916) was an organisation of socialist and labour parties, formed on 14 July 1889 at two simultaneous Paris meetings in which delegations from twenty countries participated. The Second International continued th ...
and was led by
Clara Zetkin
Clara Zetkin (; ; ''née'' Eißner ; 5 July 1857 – 20 June 1933) was a German Marxist theorist, communist activist, and advocate for women's rights.
Until 1917, she was active in the Social Democratic Party of Germany. She then joined the ...
.
The Socialist International Women trace their origins to this body, through a series of subsequent organisations.
It was named International
Socialist Women's Committee founded in 1926 under
Edith Kemmis
Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and vari ...
as the women's section of the
Labour and Socialist International
The Labour and Socialist International (LSI; german: Sozialistische Arbeiter-Internationale, label=German, SAI) was an international organization of socialist and labour parties, active between 1923 and 1940. The group was established through a me ...
. This organisation lasted until 1940, when its work came to a halt as a result of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
The organisation was refounded in 1955 as the International Council of Social Democratic Women, based in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, following the foundation of the Socialist International in 1951. As the women's section of this organisation it then took on the name of the Socialist International Women in 1978.
Members
The following organizations are Socialist International Women members:
[
]
See also
*International Socialist Women's Conferences During the period of the Second International several International Socialist Women's Conferences were held by the representatives of the women organizations of the affiliated Socialist parties. The first two were held in conjunction with the main I ...
References
Political organisations based in London
Organizations established in 1955
Socialist International
International women's organizations
Socialist organizations
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