Cobble (2014) on her journal “A Higher 'Standard of Life' for the World: U.S. Labor Women's Reform Internationalism and the Legacies of 1919” highlights a set of international standards of labor and employee rights. That came after the World War I, and there was a great need for reforms. That could further shape new world order through ideologies presented by the working women. Us history continues to undergo transformations through many research on global institutions and the international movements of ideas, people and commodities. Women historians continue to produce fantastic accounts of United States women’s global initiatives and transnational political cultures. The article provides an expansion of the scholarly of the United States internationalism and the manner in which America interacts with the world. That is done by focusing on NWTUL internationalist undertakings and the transnational labor politics on women that it had the hope of forging. The article further traces the internationalism league of the 1919 world stage, and further probe the dynamics of happenings amidst NWTUL women and labor women and men abroad. That occurs as labor women work on bringing their reforms vision to the global community. Cobble makes accounts of the internationalist initiatives that encompassed the WTUL of the United States and utilizes non-US and US sources to make a comparison of the gender and class politics in the United States and the European women trade Unionists. The study critically challenges the reigning academic tropes of United States exceptionalism, does expansion of the US internationalism understanding in the World War 1 period. Further, it exemplifies the importance of the 1919 moment for later changes in the international economic and gender policy ( Cobble, 2014) .
The US league began by bringing together working class and elite women to help in advancing their interests concerning wages through labor reform law and unionization and that became the core of their politics. The NWTL women sought to achieve prosperity, peace, and collective safety through international law and expanded democracy. Also, the women advocated for a social reform agenda and that incorporated both economic justice and women’s rights. Such an ideology distinguished the vision of the group from that of AFL internationalism. The NWTL women envisioned a collective institution and working-class empowerment as a critical item in attaining economic justice. The commitment of the team to advance the interests of women and in achieving an all-inclusive union were instrumental but also brought the league into collision with AFL ( Cobble, 2014) . The US women feared the weakening of legislation of the labor standards and thus opposed the proposal of the treaty on equal rights from the National woman’s party and all its allied institutions in ILO.
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NWTUL portrayed substantial interest in the world beyond the borders of the United States. They envisioned the world as single high society and as such the league started making inroads into separate parts of the world past the US. The connections became stronger with the British WTFL since they were premised on similar interests ( Cobble, 2014) . They worked on the strategies of efficiently relating to a male-dominated spectrum to attain their objective. The British women continued in sharpening their strategy and exchanged letters, publications, and visits. The cooperation bore great fruits between the two women movements ( Cobble, 2014) .
The ten days of discussion in 1919, the women’s congress did pass some sets of remarkable resolutions on the labor standards and global employee rights. That was then handed over to the ILC for consideration and subsequent publication both in English and French ( Cobble, 2014) . The resolutions encompass; forty-four-workweek; eight hour work day; night work protection for both men and women; and a minimum work age of sixteen for child labor. Further, it entailed maternity allowance that is sufficient for both child and mother, and provision on detailed proposals on unemployment matters, emigration, and hazardous occupations. The recognition of women’s rights is so instrumental in governance ideologies and overrides all other demands.
The women’s Congress endorsed a resolution portrayed a shared transnational understanding amongst the labor women. Such agreements were not easy to come. Some national differences bordered economic resources and circumstances, and that resulted in a cumbersome procedure in setting up the universal labor standards ( Cobble, 2014) . The cultural and racial difference became a significant setback and also threatened the eminent and coveted fragile unity. Such line of racist thinking and ideologies came on spotlight when the Congress tried to select their future vice presidents who functioned as the representative of the world’s people.
The period, 1919 to 1921, gave room for restructuring on the future systems of the international congress of working women. Principal on such a bulletin was the complaint from an Australian woman on how the women’s congress did a representation from Asia. It is essential for the women’s congress to attract the widespread participation of the women.
The Geneva Congress of 1921 brought together women from different nations including China and Asia to do a formulation of justified global standards and create universal industrial justice. Such a congress discussed on several issues of global concerns and that incorporated the rising unemployment rates. Unemployment and reduced wage bill were matters killed. There was a debate to increase the number of wages to employees which could, in turn, boost their purchasing power ( Cobble, 2014) . It was noted that economic prosperity primarily rested on the number of salaries that were given.
The Geneva Congress came up with strategies that could help in raising the standards of living for the workers. That included; organization of the women into unions; elevate the global standards of labor attentive to all employees and emphasize on women’s representation in the fresh upcoming labor and governance institutions. The strategies were part of the strengths that made the women realize the aim in the fight for social, political and economic freedom.
The key barriers to the transnational women’s labor organizing after World War 1 were indeed daunting. They encompass; internal divisions premised on race, nation, religion and class issues. The working class women also never had enough money or time to attend the conferences to provide their view ( Feenstra, Inklaar & Timmer, 2015) .
Later in the 1970s and 1980s, there was the emergence of vibrant international women movement. That encompassed the labor women and the global labor organizations, for instance, the ILO and ICFTU. They institutions adopted amongst their core principles issues on gender equality. Such transformations paved the way for a higher degree of feminism changes Feenstra, Inklaar & Timmer, 2015) . The author's claims are convincing and brings put their point of view respect to this particular period. The article articulates issues on woman power and their ability to change various aspects of the world. Like any other organization or movement, they encounter challenges that were pertinent at that period. The sequence of events that streamed through the period was pivotal in triggering the wave of interaction between women internationalists, ILO and the League of Nations and that was instrumental in championing for the equal status of women.
References
Cobble, D. S. (2014). A higher “standard of life” for the world: US labor women's reform internationalism and the legacies of 1919. The Journal of American History , 100 (4), 1052-1085.
Feenstra, R. C., Inklaar, R., & Timmer, M. P. (2015). The next generation of the Penn World Table. American Economic Review , 105 (10), 3150-82.
