The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom was formed at a congress in Zurich in May 1919. Its genesis stemmed from a joint tour of the USA by British suffagist Emmeline Pethwick-Lawrence and Hungarian feminist Rosika Shwimmer in 1914. In 1915, the Sisterhood for Peace (SIP) was formed in Melbourne, and in 1919 SIP members travelled to attend the conference in Zurich. SIP then reconstituted itself as the Australian section of the WILPF. Its headquarters remained in Victoria when WILPF branches were later established in New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. The Australian section was formally separated from the Victorian branch in 1920.
Aside from campaigning for international disarmament and an end to all war, WILPF has taken action on a wide range of social justice issues.
View the full record at
Australian Women's Register