Records of the St Joan's International Alliance: German Section

Files consisting of correspondence, reports of German section meetings, circulars and papers of annual council meetings of the St Joan's International Alliance including German Section reports to the Council and notes from Mary Dittrich concerning the deposit of the papers.

<p>See also 2/SJA: St Joan's International Alliance at the Women's Library. Records are also held by Notre Dame University, USA under the reference CMBL 3/11-13.</p>

This collection is open for consultation to researchers who have signed the Library undertaking but materials cannot be published without the permission of the depositor as copyright holder. Intending readers are advised to contact The Women's Library in advance of their first visit.

Deposited by the last secretary of the section in 1988.

The Catholic Women's Suffrage Society, predecessor of the St Joan's International Alliance was founded in 1911 by Gabrielle Jeffery and May Kendall. Their aim was to create an organisation which was non-party political and which would encourage support for women's suffrage within the Catholic Church. In 1912, the society affiliated to the Federated Council of Suffrage Societies. Women over thirty in Britain were granted the vote in 1918, a development that was mirrored in a large number of countries across the world. The society refocused its aims on a wider scale to consider social issues affecting women. This prompted a change of name to reflect this: it became the St Joan's Social and Political Alliance in 1923. From this time on, its international work expanded, from becoming a founder member of the liaison committee of international female organisations in 1924 to the presentation of a report to the League of Nations on the subject of female status in African and Asian states in 1937. This international work continued after the Second World War. Its areas of interest now included the slave trade, women's education and professional development, employment, divorce, prostitution and marital abuse, advising the United Nations on these matters and becoming recognised as an official consultative body by the UN, UNESCO and the World Labour Organisation since 1952. The German section of the group was established around 1950 and remained small throughout its existence, with only 25-50 members throughout West Germany at any time. However, it had considerable influence, especially in the 1960s under the presidency of Dr Luise Bardenhewer. Mary Dittrish was secretary from 1974 and the section was dissolved in 1980 on her resignation. Along with the international group, it was active in efforts to support the introduction of women priests after the Vatican Council of 1961, as well as being concerned with the general issues of the status of women both inside and outside the Catholic Church.