Seventh Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance
[1] Furthermore, the delegates stopped en route for mass meetings and public banquets in Berlin, Dresden, Prague and Vienna, spreading its influence ever further afield.
[3][4] Vice presidents on the committee included Sándor Giesswein [hu], a member of Parliament;[5] Vilma Glücklich and Rosika Schwimmer, co-founders of Feministák Egyesülete;[6] Ilona Haller, a suffragist;[7] and György Lukács, Minister of Education.
Finland sent fifteen delegates; Denmark and Norway, eleven each; Switzerland, nine; Italy, eight; Russia, five; Belgium, Austria, and South Africa, four each; Canada, three; Iceland, two; and Bohemia, one.
[1] Other countries and regions included Australia, Bulgaria, France, Persia, Portugal, Serbia, Siam, Spain, and Turkey, each sending representatives,[28][29][30] and delegates were present for the first time from Burma, China, Egypt, India, Japan, and the Philippines.
A resolution was adopted that no credentials should be accepted until the society presenting them was approved by the National Suffrage Association of its country and no fraternal delegate should speak except by invitation of the president of the Alliance and with the consent of the congress.
The president of the Belgian Association reported that Roman Catholic, Conservative, Socialist and Progressive women had united in a non-partisan federation to work only for woman suffrage.
[1] A reception given Saturday evening, 14 June, by the National Suffrage Association at the Gerbaud Pavilion enabled officers, delegates and members of the committees to meet and establish friendships.
At 4:00 pm, a large audience assembled in the Academy of Music for the official welcome, which began with an overture by the orchestra of the National Theater, composed for the occasion by Dr. Aladár Rényi [hu].
A special ode written by Emil Ábrányi was recited in Hungarian by Mari Jászai and in English by Erzsi Paulay [hu], both actresses from the National Theater.
[1] On the Sunday evening after the opening of the convention, the Royal Opera, a State institution, gave a special gala performance of Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, with Cupid's Tricks, by the full ballet.
[4] There was lengthy discussion in several sessions on establishing international headquarters and a press bureau, enlarging the monthly paper, Jus Suffragii, and changing the place of its publication.
The five new officers selected were Marguerite de Witt-Schlumberger, France; Schwimmer, Hungary; Chrystal Macmillan, Great Britain; Marie Stritt, Germany; and McCormick, United States.
[1] The persistent request that the Board should endorse the "militant" movement in Great Britain, which had assumed serious proportions, resulted in a resolution that the international organization was neutral regarding the tactics used by various national associations to secure women's rights.
[41] Catt was appointed to represent the Alliance at the approaching International White Slave Traffic Congress in London[1] and stressed to the delegates the need for governments to take the issue seriously and employ rigorous scientific methods in their studies.
[43] Among the numerous topics reports were given on child protection and welfare, educational reform, employment rights, slave trafficking, and temperance, among others,[29] and democracy, public health, and the pending war were discussed.
A morning was devoted to discussion of the ever vital question "What Relation Should Suffrage Organizations Bear toward Political Parties", led by Anna B. Wicksell, Sweden, and Kathleen Courtney, Great Britain.
A large audience heard one evening the Benefits of Woman Suffrage related by those who had been sent as official delegates from Governments that had given the vote to women, Qvam, Krog and Spencer, and in supplementary speeches by Jenny af Forselles, member of Parliament from Finland; A. Maude Royden, Great Britain; Charlotte Perkins Gilman, United States, whose topic was New Mothers of a New World.
[46] On the Thursday evening, this International League held a mass meeting in the Academy of Music with rousing speeches for woman suffrage by Hermann Bahr, Austria; Jean-Marie Thomas Moreau du Breuil de Saint-Germain, France; Major Mansfeldt; Keir Hardie, Great Britain; and Senator Leo Mechelin, Finland; Dr. Vilmos Vázsonyi, M. P., Hungary; Professor Knut Wicksell, Sweden; Professor Gusztáv Szászy-Schwartz [hu], Hungary.
"Woman Suffrage and Men's Economic, Ethical and Political Interest in it" was discussed by Prof. Emanuel Beke, Hungary; Dr. Emil von Hoffmansthal, Austria; Frederick Nathan and Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, United States.
[1] At 5:00 pm on the last day, 21 June, the final program began under the general topic, "How may women still bound by ancient custom, tradition and prejudice be awakened to a realization that these new times demand new duties and responsibilities?"
