Looking/Seeing beyond Structures and Constructions: Women's Educational Organizations, Professional Knowledge, and Networks 1900-1945

This is an historical and comparative paper that examines the importance of women's educational organizations across time and space and the deliberative attempts of individual members to advocate for the expansion of their professional knowledge, expertise and reach. Specifically, the historical spotlight is turned on the International Federation of University Women (IFUW) and the National University Women's Graduate Association (NUWGA, Ireland) as illustrative examples of the power and potential of women's organizations to the development of women's professional knowledge, academic expertise and strategic ambition. As we highlight, associations such as the IFUW and NUGA, as communities of like-minded women, prompted women to shape and define new ways of thinking about the interpersonal, organizational and international aspects of their work.