Storming the Hague the 1930 Campaign for Independent Nationality for Women Regardless of Marital Status
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Storming The Hague The 1930 Campaign for Independent Nationality for Women Regardless of Marital Status Ellen Carol DuBois Establishing a woman’s right to maintain equal rights for women as an international her own nationality when married to a man concern not generated by any other issue of from a different country was an important the time. feminist issue in the interwar years. It was, The international feminist campaign for by its very nature, an international issue be- independent nationality for wives began in cause the conflict occurred only when mar- 1930, in connection with a League sponsored riages crossed national borders; and it was legal conference at The Hague. The Confer- a feminist issue because only women’s na- ence was called to establish worldwide stan- tionality became contingent under these cir- dards of law on three issues: maritime law; cumstances. The drive for independent na- the responsibilities of nation-states for ac- tionality for married women combined two tions against foreigners; and finally universal signal feminist concerns: establishing full and non-conflicting terms of nationality, the and equal citizenship for women and undo- last of concern to female activists. Two dis- ing their marital disabilities. ‘Nowhere does tinct groups of women activists went to The the principle that a married woman is the Hague to press their position on the confer- property of her husband appear more clearly ence, determined that at least there should be than in the law obtaining in almost all coun- no setbacks, at most that the League should tries that a woman who marries a foreigner advance women’s equality demands. One lose her nationality from that moment,’ ex- group was associated with the International plained German feminist Marie Stritt (Stritt, Alliance of Women, and made up of veterans 1918, p. 2). of the moderate wing of European suffrage Married women’s independent national- struggles. The other group was somewhat ity was the lead issue among feminists in and younger and certainly more tactically daring. around the League of Nations for most of the Its US members were former militant suf- 1930s (Sluga, 2006; Sapiro, 1984; Hill, 1999; fragists associated with the National Wom- Camiscioli, 2004; Bredbenner, 1998). Unlike en’s Party. From The Hague, together these the matter of enfranchisement, which the feminists carried forward the campaign to League of Nations regarded as a solely do- Geneva and into the late 1930s. Feminist mestic matter and thus inappropriate to its activism on the nationality issue ultimately concerns, the demand for independent na- outlived the League and finally reached frui- tionality for married women was necessarily tion in the postwar years at the United Na- international. And unlike the League efforts tions. against sexual trafficking, which retained a This contribution will recount the inter- focus on women as victims, independent na- war history of this feminist success, focusing tionality was about women’s active citizen- on the international dimension of this cam- ship. It brought in its wake recognition of paign, highlighting in particular forgotten 18 Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies ● 2013, nr. 4 Guest (guest) IP: 170.106.35.93 On: Sat, 25 Sep 2021 03:22:23 Storming The Hague key actor(s) from the Americas and the Easts. of primary and secondary sources situated in A wide scope of women from around the various national histories, which are rarely world became involved with the campaign brought to bear upon each other or upon in- for women’s independent nationality regard- ternational events. Vergara’s wonderful auto- less of marital status. Although the League biography, Memorias de una mujer irrever- of Nations was primarily European, women ente, which is little known or used outside from the US (not a League member), Asia (in- of Chile, is a case in point. Much of it deals cluding colonial India), and the Latin Ameri- with her work in Europe and the US, and has can republics (largely marginal within the a great deal to tell about international ac- League) were deeply involved. The two major tivists from across the western hemisphere. activists at the League on the nationality is- Similarly, Dutch and US newspaper cover- sue were from the Americas, Doris Stevens age together create a richer account of events of the US and Marta Vergara of Chile. While than either provides separately. Hopefully, Stevens is relatively well known for her femi- the analysis here begun will encourage his- nist and internationalist work, Vergara is torians deeply immersed in various national recognized only within Chilean women’s his- materials to add and amplify. tory and only with respect to her contribu- tions to that nation’s socialist-feminist wing Married women’s nationality (Rosemblatt, 2000). A fascinating figure who deserves more attention for her internation- In 1930, most legal thinkers divided princi- al work, she is particularly important to the ples for the derivation of nationality into two campaign for women’s independent national- categories: ius sanguinis (or the rule of blood: ity both because of her consistent and effec- you are the nationality of your parents, ac- tive advocacy, and because North and South tually your father); and ius soli (or the rule American state policies on women’s nation- of soil: you are the nationality of the place ality were more advanced than European where you were born). But there was a third ones. Telling the story with Vergara closer to and little noted rule, that of ‘derivative na- the center bestows the additional benefit of tionality,’ which combined gender and mari- investing the interwar history of internation- tal status (Knop, 2001). If a woman married al feminism with a more truly global cast. a man from another country, most countries An international scope is also crucial to dictated that she assumed the nationality of the evidentiary basis of this article. The ar- her husband. The justification of this rule was ticle builds on and amplifies a small body of that it was necessary to prevent conflicts be- excellent secondary scholarship (alas, most tween nations from being imported into the of it in unpublished form) on the work of marriage and threaten the sacred principle of feminists at the League of Nations. However, ‘family unity’ (Breckinridge, 1931, p. 53; Scott this scholarship concentrates on European & Maurtua, 1930, p. 15). British nationality and US actors and factional schisms among activist Chrystal Macmillan regarded this them (Miller, 1992; Hill, 1999; Pfeffer, 1985). justification as a cover for the real purpose, Primary international sources – League re- the preservation of male supremacy within ports and international feminist correspon- marriage: dence and journals – were consulted, and I In both Britain and the US, well into the include photographic material in my analysis nineteenth century both men and women as well. Finally, this contribution makes use retained the nationality into which they 2013, nr. 4 ● Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies 19 Guest (guest) IP: 170.106.35.93 On: Sat, 25 Sep 2021 03:22:23 Ellen Carol DuBois were born regardless of residence or family Feminist argued for a uniform and egali- status, a practice, it should be noted, meant tarian international legal standard for mar- as an enhancement to paternal citizenship ried women’s nationality. Male jurists resis- rather than an act of respect for women’s ted, contending that it was premature and rights. Through the nineteenth century, excessive to propose equality between men as the growing demand for suffrage made and women with respect to nationality as a citizenship potentially more substantive universal legal standard. Instead of the larger for women, many nation-states changed principle, they limited themselves to consi- their laws to discriminate against married dering only a handful of minor adjustments women in nationality provisions (Macmil- to the principle of dependent nationality for lan, 1925, p. 145). wives: those when conflicting national regi- mes resulted in women with dual citizenship Several developments combined to draw the or none at all (Bredbenner, 1998). practice of derivative nationality to the atten- tion of feminist activists in the third decade The first feminist contingent to The Hague: of the twentieth century. The rise in inter- the Europeans national marriages among women of the in- telligentsia and upper classes made the con- Feminists initially sought to influence the sequences of loss of nationality and related Hague 1930 conference by lobbying nation- problems of property ownership of consid- al delegations to include women who would erable concern to them. Massive immigra- argue for a full equality approach during tion and dramatic post-war border changes debates on married women’s nationality. In spread the implications of derivative nation- this they were largely unsuccessful. Despite ality to women of the poor and working campaigns in numerous countries, there classes (Bussey & Tims, 1980, p. 94; Flournoy, were only two women – one from the US and 1930). Above all, the achievement of enfran- one from Germany – with full delegate sta- chisement for women across much of Eu- tus (and the US woman was an antifeminist). rope and North America gave much greater Nine other women served as alternates or political and personal meaning to women’s technical advisors. Of these, Emma Wold, of lack of control over their national citizen- the US, was the most helpful to the feminist ship status. ‘The nationality of women … is a cause. modern question,” wrote US feminist Muna Finding themselves largely excluded from Lee, ‘because only within the last generation official proceedings, feminist activists had or so have women, generally speaking, begun to press from the outside, which they were to travel widely and carry on diverse activi- used to doing. A group combining the Inter- ties in a complex and ever-changing world.