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Commission For the Legal Status of WomenA commission connected with the League of Nations projects 1920-1939

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FailuresThe first meeting of the Committee of Experts for the Study of the Legal Status of Women Around the World was held in Geneva on 4 April 1938. They met again in January 1939 before disbanding. The original committee only lasted a year due to the arising War and therefore had to cease their progress. Furthermore, when women did finally get the right to vote in 1918, numbers of women actually voting decrease significantly. (Although this was not part of the commission).

Challenges Ahead

Once the United Nations reimbursed the actual commission, women still had the battle of prejudice against them. Even today, there is still ‘men’s jobs’ and ‘women’s jobs’ and some females at work in other parts of the world still get paid less than men. Furthermore, women leaders are still very rare and in some nations, outlawed. In more third world countries, women aren’t educated ,either. In lots of ways, most of our planet is still like it was before WW1.

Why it was created

Since the late 19th century, more and more women have been protesting to gain equal rights. Many found it quite ironic that human rights were being amended for the African slaves but not women first. From not being able to do a man’s profession or have the right to vote, women put together a council which then turned into a commission to fight for the legal rights for the females of society.

Aims of the Commission

The aims of the Commission were quite simply to study and improve women’s rights on an international level looking at the economic, political and civil status of women. It would aim to improve the lives of females all over and try to obtain the approval of equal rights for women that would allow them to have the same rights as men.

Successes

One of the successes that the Commission had was that they designed three main questionnaires to send to the Institute de Droit Compare, Institute de Droit Penal and the Institute of Private Law. The questions mainly inquired about divorce, domicile rights, penal and criminal laws, etc. Though the work was left incomplete due to the outbreak of World War Two, it provided a sturdy base for the work to be continued with the United Nations in 1946.