The Women's World Cup was first held in 1973, and for the first seven editions participation was determined solely by invitation, issued at the discretion of the International Women's Cricket Council (IWCC).

[1] A qualification tournament was first held in 2003 (for the 2005 World Cup), which was hosted by the Netherlands and won by Ireland.

The IWCC was subsumed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2005, and all other editions have been known simply as the World Cup Qualifier.

The 2011 event, as well as 2021, saw ten teams compete for three qualifying places, and the 2017 tournament featured ten teams and four qualifying places.

[5] The 2011 and 2017 editions were also used to determine Women's ODI status, and the 2021 edition was originally intended to also decide entry to the ICC Women's Championship; due to its abandonment, it was ultimately decided by rankings instead.