This book provides a transnational history of the struggle for women's access to higher education by focusing on the International Federation of University Women (IFUW) between 1919 and 1970. It sheds light on the strategies developed by university-educated women to overcome persistent barriers in academic and professional fields. At the heart of the book lies a central question: How did a federation of national associations—led mainly by elite women from Western countries—mobilize on the international stage to promote higher education and professional opportunities for women? Drawing from rich and largely unexplored archival material, it explores the plural and evolving engagements of the IFUW, from the promotion of study abroad and international fellowships for women, to its lobbying efforts within the League of Nations and later the United Nations and UNESCO. The book also interrogates the ambivalent relationship of its members to feminism, as many refrained from using the label whilst actively contributing to what can be understood as a form of feminist expertise. By connecting the history of women’s higher education with that of international women’s movements, it contributes to a growing field at the intersection of gender history, educational history, and internationalism. This book uncovers how education was framed as a universal cause by female intellectual elites and how this framing both empowered and excluded, and enriches our understanding of how knowledge, mobility, and activism intersected in the making of transnational gender politics.

Marie‑Elise Hunyadi is Senior Lecturer in Educational Sciences at the Université catholique de l’Ouest, France and a member of the LIRFE laboratory. She is also an Associated Researcher with the ERHISE team at the University of Geneva and with the EMA Laboratory at Cergy Paris Université.