Accepting the Challenge: the Story of the First Three Women Delegates to the League of Nations Marie Sannem Thoring Master’s thesis in Peace and Conflict Studies, Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History UNIVERSITY OF OSLO Fall 2020 Word count: 31,688 Frontpage photo: Kristine Bonnevie, Anna Bugge-Wicksell and Henni Forchhammer at Geneva, Kvindehistorisk Samling, Statsbiblioteket at Århus, Denmark. Accepting the Challenge: the Story of the First Three Women Delegates to the League of Nations Kristine Bonnevie, Anna Bugge-Wicksell and Henni Forchhammer at Geneva. © Marie Sannem Thoring 2020 Accepting the Challenge: the Story of the First Three Women Delegates to the League of Nations Marie Sannem Thoring http://www.duo.uio.no/ Abstract During the first public meeting of the League of Nations in 1920, three Scandinavian women sat amongst the almost 250 men ready to participate in the international negotiations to secure the newly found peace. Despite being few, these three women represented the expectations of thousands of women as they entered an arena which had never before been accessible to women. This thesis examines the participation of these three women during their years as members of the League of Nations. It finds that despite the women only taking part in the humanitarian questions of the League, their role in these matters were not insignificant. They may have been intended to only serve a symbolic role by their respective governments, but each of the three women would end up contributing to different matters handled by the League, despite being unable to make changes to the League’s larger political objectives. Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank, from the bottom of my heart, my wonderful supervisor Hilde Sandvik whom supported me and my project relentlessly from start to finish. Thank you for always being available, for motivating me when I was struggling and always believing in me. Your devotion to us students is truly one of a kind. I would also like to thank Helge Pharo, Inger Nordal and Mari Holmboe Ruge for your generous help during the early planning of this project. Your assistance has been invaluable. Thank you to the League of Nations Archives at Geneva, and especially so Jacques Oberson for your help to navigate the madness. Next, I am forever grateful for the love and support from my mum, thank you for pushing me through this and making sure I never gave up! Your unconditional love makes me thankful every day. Also, thank you dad for providing me with all the vitamins to keep going, and my little sister for being the best. A huge thank you to my fantastic friends Ósk, Frida, Ragnhild, Anniken, Campis, Marte, Kaja and Irina for holding my hand when I was struggling, meeting me for more or less efficient study sessions and supporting me all the way through this project. Love you guys! Last but not least, thank you my darling Bella and sweet Pippa for always being next to me when I needed the support, you are my little hearts. That being said, any mistakes found in this thesis are my own. Marie Sannem Thoring 20. November 2020 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 Defining empirical project ....................................................................................................................3 Scholarly debate ...................................................................................................................................4 Methods and sources ............................................................................................................................6 Chapter 2: Introducing the League of Nations and the three pioneer women ........................... 8 Part 1: The League of Nations .................................................................................................................. 8 The organisation of the League .......................................................................................................... 11 The Fifth Committee .......................................................................................................................... 11 Part 2: Entering the women .................................................................................................................... 12 First wave feminism in Scandinavia ................................................................................................... 12 Women in politics .............................................................................................................................. 14 Becoming increasingly international: the three major international women’s organisations .............. 15 Women’s organisations and the League of Nations ............................................................................ 16 The pioneer women of the League ......................................................................................................... 17 Henni Forchhammer ........................................................................................................................... 17 Anna Bugge-Wicksell ........................................................................................................................ 19 Kristine Bonnevie ............................................................................................................................... 22 Chapter 3: Henni Forchhammer .............................................................................................. 26 Part 1: women and children in the Near East .......................................................................................... 26 The Genocide of Armenian and other minorities in the Ottoman Empire’s final years ...................... 26 The League’s approach to the Genocide ............................................................................................. 28 Henni Forchhammer’s involvement in the work for women and children in the Near East ................ 29 Henni Forchhammer’s close cooperation with the ‘homes’ ................................................................ 33 Part 2: trafficking in women and children .............................................................................................. 36 Trafficking in women and children in the early 1900s ....................................................................... 37 Henni Forchhammer’s involvement in the work for women and children in trafficking .................... 38 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 41 Chapter 4: Anna Bugge-Wicksell ............................................................................................. 43 The Permanent Mandates Commission .............................................................................................. 43 Bugge-Wicksell’s appointment .......................................................................................................... 44 The face of the PMC at the Assembly ................................................................................................ 48 Anna Bugge-Wicksell and William Rappard ...................................................................................... 49 Education in the mandated territories ................................................................................................. 50 Women and children in the mandated areas ....................................................................................... 54 Bugge-Wicksell’s trip to the United States ......................................................................................... 55 Swedish delegate to the Assembly ..................................................................................................... 56 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 56 Chapter 5: Kristine Bonnevie ................................................................................................... 58 Delegate to the League of Nations ...................................................................................................... 58 Member of the Assembly’s Fifth Committee ..................................................................................... 59 The League of Nations and the traffic in opium ................................................................................. 62 Bonnevie’s involvement on the issue of traffic in opium ................................................................... 63 The International Committee for Intellectual Co-operation ................................................................ 67 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 70 Chapter 6: ‘token women’ or League of Nations delegates? .................................................... 72 Overlooked contributions to the League’s humanitarian vision .......................................................... 72 Feminist influence at Geneva ............................................................................................................. 76 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................