ABSTRACT
The International Conference of Women Physicians held in the autumn of 1919, a year after the Armistice ending the First World War, represents a key moment in the history of women’s activism and medical women’s alliances. Women doctors shared information and engaged in networking across the six-week conference and addressed common concerns and unique challenges. At the close of the conference delegates formed two specific organisations, the Medical Women’s International Association (MWIA) and the Women’s Foundation for Health (WFH). This article analyses why organisers established these distinctive groups and suggests reasons why the MWIA was the more successful. These case studies indicate that networking with other activists and professionals across national borders could strengthen and support medical activism at national and international levels through coalition building and the promotion of a transnational identity among women physicians.
