Makes this collaboration so important to me. My book is a snapshot of a. Ingular moment in history almost exactly 100 years ago. As the world finally began exiting from the devastation of the First World War and was able to begin the dreaming and planning for the peace and the new world that would come afterwards. Mythis moment, i show in book that women from farreaching and incredibly diverse parts of the world began stepping onto the global stage and asserting inserting an agenda of womens rights and gender equality that at the core demanded the rights for women to help shape this new world order and transform it into something that was fundamentally different that then what had given way to world war i. Ibook is a story of women from north america, europe, asia, and the middle east. It is a story of white, wealthy women and also sometimes desperately poor, workingclass women. It is a story of women that were married to tremendously supportive husbands and also women that engaged in lifelong singlesex relationships. It is a story of white women and women of color, a story of christians, muslims, jews, hindus, and women that professed no religion at all. It is a story of women from powerful, global empires as well as subjugated and powerless colonies. I argue that at the end of world war i in 1919, these pioneering female activists transformed womens rights into a global rallying cry and it is a rallying cry that continues to reverberate around the world right up to the pleasant president day. Present day. Here in the u. S. , many of us are focused on this moment, 100 years ago because it marks an important anniversary in our own National History which is the passage and ratification of the 19th amendment to the constitution which granted women the right to vote. And that kind of eggs the question these two things happened at roughly the same time, women gained the right to United States and global feminist began to speak out and establish women rights as a global agenda were these two things related . Righte answer to put it up front is absolutely yes. And so, while my book is not specifically a book about American History. The stories recorded in it, i think, have a very Important Message about American History and the 19th amendment which is that this long battle that women fought for economic, social, and Political Rights in this country are embedded in a Global Movement that was designed to secure the equality and humanity of half of the population of this earth. In particular, my talk tonight and my book will emphasize the fact that american women owe the passage of the 19th amendment in small part at least two foreign women. Sisters international that brought pressure on americans and particularly on the american president , woodrow ownon, to live up to his rhetoric of democracy. And then, the other thing, the equally important thing that my book explains is why some american women at this moment in 19191920, just as the movement for suffrage was reaching its climate and it looked as though it was finally going to pass the senate and move on to the states for ratification. At this critical moment, why is it that quite a few dedicated american suffragists chose to leave the United States and go to advocate for womens rights are broad instead of here athome . This is particularly true of women that found themselves somewhat on the margin of the american suffrage it Movement Including pacifist women, workingclass, labor women, labor suffragists as well as a fairly large group of africanamerican suffragists. I want to zero in on the global history of the 19th amendment and in the process introduce some of the pioneering womens rights activists featured in my book who made this post world such a watershed for womens rights in america and around the world. Historian, ia always have to trace back in time. We will start our story in 1914 just before the outbreak of the First World War. At that point in time, there were very few women anywhere in the world who enjoyed the right level, at the federal the national level. And in fact, there were only four countries and the world that had granted women the right to vote by 1914. The first country to break that threshold was new zealand. As you can see this photo on the tenaciouslyn fought for the right to vote in new zealand in the light 19th century and in 1893, they won that right and interestingly and importantly, it was a right that was not qualified by wealth or education level and it also enfranchised white women and women ats maori the same time. That was the first country. Shortly thereafter, australia granted white women the right to vote. And then also, prior to world and norway finland had established the right to vote at the national level. But that was about it. Suffrage movements had been growing steadily in the years leading up to world war i. That is most famously true in Great Britain and the United States where suffragists were gaining headlines and attention for increasingly militant tactics including heckling marches out staging in public demanding womens rights to vote. This was in no way uniquely an anglophone phenomenon. Women in asia were beginning to establish certainly individual suffragists are beginning to speak out and movements were beginning to form as well. Wereina for example, women very involved in the revolutionary movement that dynasty inhe chang 1911. The firsthen provisional parliament met in china to try to establish what the new constitution would be, women were not invited but they broke their way into the meeting hall and smashed the windows to get the attention of the men and had to be forcibly removed. Quiet down. To also in the early 20th century in the british empire, women from india were also beginning to call for both a home rule in india but also for women to share in the political responsibilities in india. And during world war i in 1917, indian suffrages put forward their first formal request for the franchise during world war i. It was also true in continental suffrageat women movements had been growing exponentially. And this photograph is taken in paris. You might recognize the background scenery there. Somewhat movingly, this photo was taken in july, 1914, just several weeks before world war i broke out and this was the first major public demonstration that french suffragists staged in demanding the vote. And i want to point out the woman in the front row in the middle who was wearing a white blouse and a fantastically feathered hat on her head. That woman is marguerite de wittschlumberger. She was the head of the largest french suffragists organization in france. Role in a story i will tell in just a moment so i wanted you to recognize her face. When world war i broke out in 1914, Suffrage Movements, not everywhere but by and large halted their activism in order that women might turn their thattion to the war work their nations were calling upon them to complete. From 1914 through 1980, women in the warring nations stepped into all kinds of social, economic, and even political roles that had been considered rightfully eres up to that point. On the screen are a few of the economic and duties that women engaged in vital to the war efforts. You can see two british ambulance drivers that shuttled Wounded Soldiers from the frontlines to some of the immediate hospitals and triage stations. Women were also vital as farmers. They took over family farms but also large, commercial farms as well and the picture in the center of the screen is celebrating female farmworkers in france. You can see also on the top row, women that began working in conditions factories munitions factories by the tens of thousands. And also women that volunteered to serve as nurses, many for the red cross providing vital medical aid. What all of these women shared in common was that the work they were doing was considered to be absolutely of vital and fundamental importance to the nation. They were told that what they were doing was not just important to their family but it was important to their country which gave them a new sense of confidence and citizenship. The United States did not initially join world war i. Woodrow wilson had campaigned on the promise that he had kept america out of the war and would continue to do so. But in april, 1917, nonetheless, Woodrow Wilson went before the American Congress to request a declaration of war on the central powers. And he did so insisting that american boys should put their lives on the line because the world must be kept safe for democracy. Now, american suffer just had to decide suffragists had to to thisow to react declaration of war. On the one hand, the militant alice continued to prioritize their campaign for the vote. They said there is no reason for us to put it aside and all the more reason to amp up pressure. You see one of the many women who stood sentinel outside of the white house insisting that wilson should not be preaching democracy to the rest of the world while denying democracy at home. These were some of the women that famously served hard times toprison for their refusal back down. The majority of suffragists however followed the lead of the national suffragists association and its president who is the woman all in white with the American Flag on her sleeve. She thought that it would to throwuffragists their support behind the war. For theen were ready full responsibility of citizenship. Historians have been arguing for years which of these two groups, the militant or moderate, were responsible for finally convincing Woodrow Wilson support suffrage after a lifetime of opposing it and also turning the majority of the public and the male politicians to supporting the 19th amendment. What my book shows is that another force was at work in thation to these two pushed Woodrow Wilson and others as well to finally endorse a federal amendment. And this force was foreign women. Women from abroad who took Woodrow Wilson at his word when he said this was going to be a war fought for democracy and indicated to him that american would never be seen as a democracy of broad unless democracy was established at home. We need to understand that when Woodrow Wilson spoke publicly during world war i, he was never just addressing an american public. His words and speeches were carried all over the world and in fact the United States created its first modern propaganda wing, a committee of public information, specifically to make sure that his words made. Eadlines all across the globe they made front pages of newspapers as we can see from this french newspaper on the screen. Other historians have noted that in places that wilson could scarcely imagine, his words were taken as a sign of support for liberation and anticolonialism. In places as far away as egypt and colonial vietnam and china nationalists listened to what he said that this war must nationalnditions of determination and democracy. Was thatesearch showed women were paying just as much attention as the male nationalists and they were strategizing to make sure that wilson was going to follow up on his words with tangible action. In this effort, still in the midst of world war i, marguerite de wittschlumberger, the french suffragists i pointed out earlier was the first to see that wilson might prove to be the key to establishing womens in theto vote not just United States but all over the world. In 1917, she began sending out letters in the midst of the war to women from other allied nations in europe, australia and north america saying let us write a letter to wilson and let us get him to commit, go public with the idea that womens rights are key. On the screen, you are seeing a portion of a draft of the letter. The women wilson that from the allied countries have a wish we want president wilson in one of his upcoming messages to declare the principal of to be asuffrage fundamental pillar of future national law. We want you to go public. Not just in america but womens suffrage needs to be a part of democracy. They got the letter together by early 1819. It took a while to get it into the hands of the president. Of 1918,in the spring tory chapman gave the letter Woodrow Wilson and much to his shock, he immediately responded. The response he sent off to the hefragists in europe but also gave permission for it to be published. On the left of your screen, you can see the New York Times article covering wilsons response. He said to french women i have read your message with the deepest interest and i welcome the opportunity to say that i agree without reservation that the full and sincere democratic reconstruction of the world for which we are striving and for which we are determined to bring about at any cost would not be completely or adequately attained until women are admitted to the suffrage. Those women had him now publicly saying i support women suffrage and the fundamental pillar of the Suffrage Movement. There was an extra reason to be excited. And added paragraph highlighted at the bottom where it says as for america, it is my hope that the senate of the United States will give an unmistakable addingthe question this to our constitution. Very first time that Woodrow Wilson had publicly endorsed federal amendment but one of the first and there was pressure coming from abroad and that was on his mind as he finally made that decision. Europe, womenin were elated as well. They sent it out to all of the press agencies and got it in the newspapers as well. Record wilson was now on as saying he supported womens suffrage as a pillar of this new democratic world order. Nowpean, allied suffragists had this as a tool in their tool chest and were ready to bring it out as soon as the war was over. Chapter one of my book chronicles the lobbying campaign that womens rights activists waged in paris during the paris peas conference, the negotiation came at the end of world war i with all of the allied governments but with Woodrow Wilson in particular throughout these long months of negotiating. Feminists european were at the center of this push. We are back to marguerite de was sohlumberger who active. This is a letter she sent to wilson on january 18, 1919, the opening day of the paris peas conference. She got him right at the beginning. Promisesded him of his that he had made publicly during the war and she was writing on behalf of french feminists saying that we beg you to use your immense influence. Him again to publicly theess his sympathy for more than half of humanity represented by women who in so many countries had been unjust and cruel silence by the denial of the vote. They did not just want a pledge from wilson. They wanted tangible action. Of onetter informed him thing and asked him for another. It informed him that french women were convening a conference to help make sure that they were listened to peace the peas process process. She also asked if they could meet with him facetoface at his earliest convenience. Wilson was a pretty busy man at the beginning of the paris peace conference. He had dozens and dozens of people knocking on his door asking for his time and attention. He could easily have dismissed this but he did not. He gave them an appointment. Less than two weeks later on generate high seven, he met a number ofth suffragists. Wilsons response to them that day was incredibly encouraging and he said it would seem impossible to me to refuse to listen to women after the service they rendered after the the war. Whatever it is in my power to do for them, i will do. French women were again you laid elatedthey prepared and the conference rather on february 10, 1919 in paris. This was just some of the allied women that participated. To books that covered the peace conference and you may find women mentioned in a sentence or a footnote but that is about it. Reducing their lobbying effort to a sideshow in the greater diplomatic history of the war and i think this is a huge mistake. The Pressure Campaign that women activists waged with serious and relentless, the conference met success would be critical to shaping policy in wouldth century and it help explain why International Relations remain such a maledominated profession up to the current day. This conference demanded a voice for women at the peace negotiations and they also laid out a long agenda of items they felt needed to be addressed. If the diplomats really wanted to create lasting and stable and Peaceful World order. Rightdemands included the to vote and hold office. They wanted the nations that had the league of later theich was united nations. They wanted recognition of womens economic rights including equal pay for equal work. And they call for an international denunciation of violence against women and girls in wartime including rape and forced deportation. This last issue became very important to them in february, 1919, when a woman came to paris. She was a survivor of the Armenian Genocide the attempted ottoman genocide of the armenian population in world war i and she spoke about the incredibly difficult and murderous treatment that women were under during those circumstances. Most directly, what they wanted was a seat at the table. They got their second audience with Woodrow Wilson on the first night of the conference, february 10, 1919. He met with a group of them and they proposed that he ask the alied powers to create Womens Commission at the peas conference that could advise the at the peace conference that could advise the male diplomats that were at the peace conference. Wilson said he would. He brought the issue before the meeting of the supreme council. Some of the male diplomats in roomealm he told in the and he told them that he sieved he desired to satisfy the women suffragists. But he follo