During a visit to Europe in 1882, American suffragists
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and
Susan B. Anthony discussed the idea of an international women's organization with reformers in several countries. A committee of correspondence was formed to develop the idea further at a reception in their honor just before they returned home. The
National Woman Suffrage Association, led by Anthony and Stanton, organized the founding meeting of the ICW, which convened in Washington, DC, on March 25, 1888. Representing Louisiana at the Woman's International Council was
Caroline Elizabeth Merrick. The meeting was part of a celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the
Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention.
Rachel Foster Avery managed much of the details of the planning of the first meeting of the ICW, and
Susan B. Anthony presided over eight of the sixteen sessions. The ICW drafted a constitution and established national meetings every three years and international meetings every five years.
Millicent Garrett Fawcett of England was elected as the first president, but she declined to serve. Other British activists such as
Margaret Tanner,
Helen Priestman Bright Clark,
Emily Sturge,
Mary Estlin and
Maria Colby signed a supportive letter sent to the first meeting, until the title "In the Fellowship of Womanhood." In 1894, the ICW met in
Berlin, where
Alix von Cotta said that many senior teachers stayed away. The British activist,
Margery Corbett Ashby was in attendance, and recalls the event and the relationship of the ICW with the
IWSA in an interview with the historian,
Brian Harrison, as part of the Suffrage Interviews project, titled
Oral evidence on the suffragette and suffragist movements: the Brian Harrison interviews. In 1899, they met in London. In the early years, the United States supported many of the expenses of the organization, and dues from U.S. members made up a significant part of the budget. Most meetings were held in Europe or North America, and they adopted the use of three official languages – English, French and German – which discouraged participation by women of non-European origin. The ICW did not actively promote women's
suffrage, as to not upset the more conservative members. In 1899, the council began to take on more substantive issues, forming an International Standing Committee on Peace and International Arbitration. Other standing committees were soon established, and through them, the ICW became involved in issues from suffrage to health. ==Twentieth century==