Feminist Foresight in Statelessness Hague (the ‘Hague Conference’). 37 When the announcement was made, a committee created by the Alliance sprang into action. The committee was directed by three pioneering lawyers, Chrystal Macmillan, France’s Maria Vérone and Betsy Bakker-Nort from the Netherlands. 38 At the same time, and since the formation of the Inter-American Commission of Women (‘IACW’) in 1928, 39 significant efforts to secure equal nationality rights for women at the Hague Conference were being made by US feminists. Alice Paul, described as a leading figure in the US feminist community, spent two years collating a volume of work on nationality laws around the world. Laws were sent to Paul and her colleague Dorothy Stevens, in their original text and with translations, from feminists in 84 countries. Languages included Japanese, Greek, Siamese, Bulgarian and Russian. 40 The IACW, led by Paul, put together another progressive text, the Equal Nationality Treaty, which was registered by the Council of the American Institute of International Law. The Treaty stated that a contracting party shall make ‘no distinction based on sex in their laws and practice relating to nationality’. 41 The Treaty specifically guaranteed the right of mothers, equally with fathers, to transmit nationality to their children. 42 For women in the US, the next step was getting to the Hague Conference. At this point in the feminist history of statelessness, Manley O Hudson makes his appearance. In modern statelessness literature, Hudson is known for his prominent role in writing the definition of a stateless person in the 1950s. 43 In 1930, however, Hudson was a technical adviser to the US delegation to the Hague Conference, the delegation on which feminist activists were fiercely trying to secure representation. Hudson was clear that he did not want women to be officially part of the delegation. 44 On failing to secure delegatory positions, national feminist organisations sent their own, unofficial, delegates to The Hague. 45 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 Conflicts and differences of tactics did, however, exist across groups and so this collaboration should not be oversimplified nor romanticised: see Miller (n 6) 229; Trigg (n 7) 61; Bredbenner (n 1) 216. In literature on the Inter-American Commission of Women (‘IACW’), attention is largely placed on the contributions of North American activists. Dorothy Stevens and Alice Paul are particularly noted as key leaders in the Pan-American alliance. On closer examination, however, it is possible to find reference to a strain between Latin and Northern American feminists. Latin American members were resentful of a perceived hijacking of the IACW by Dorothy Stevens. Limited by the availability of literature available, the present article does not illustrate the extent to which women of colour were ignored, or muted, as a means for white women’s emancipation in the early 1900s: see Ann Towns, ‘The InterAmerican Commission of Women and Women’s Suffrage, 1920–1945’ (2010) 42(4) Journal of Latin American Studies 779, 796. See also Katherine M Marino, Feminism for the Americas: The Making of an International Human Rights Movement (University of North Carolina Press 2019) 74. DuBois (n 7) 206. In Spanish: Comisión Interamericana de Mujeres (‘CIM’). Lee (n 7) 223. See generally Amorosa (n 7). Bredbenner (n 1) 204. ibid 236. Guy Goodwin-Gill, ‘Statelessness Is Back (Not That It Ever Went Away …)’, EJIL: Talk! (Blog Post, 12 September 2019) <https://www.ejiltalk.org/statelessness-is-back-not-that-itever-went-away/>. Bredbenner (n 1) 206. ibid 207. 49