Rachel Crowdy at the League of Nations “I Think, Personally, That We Shall Get What We Want”

The life of Rachel Crowdy – British nurse, social worker, and highest ranking woman in the League of Nations – shines a unique light on the inner workings of the League. She joined the international organization from its beginnings and was therefore able to shape its practices. Her changing role at the League reflects how it developed from an idealistic organization to a crisis manager, a development with distinctly gendered elements that points to the importance of studying individuals. Using a broad array of primary source material, this article contributes to the practice turn and provides new insights into the role of women in the League of Nations by exploring various strategies that allowed Crowdy to exercise agency as a woman in the male-dominated organization. After having left the League, she emerged again in the context of the United Nations, which demonstrates the links between the two.