Rosika Schwimmer

Rosika Schwimmer was a Hungarian-born pacifist, feminist, world federalist and female suffragist. A co-founder of the Campaign for World Government with Lola Maverick Lloyd, her radical vision of world peace led to the creation of the first World Federalist organization of the 20th century. 60 years after she envisaged it, the movement she helped to create indeed took a leading role in the creation of the International Criminal Court, the first permamnent international tribunal tasked with charging individuals with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Schwimmer was born into a Jewish family in Budapest in 1877, she graduated from public school in 1891. An accomplished linguist, she spoke or read eight languages. In her early career, she had difficulty finding a job that paid a living wage and was sensitized by that experience to women's employment issues. Gathering data to provide statistics on working women, Schwimmer came into contact with members of the international women's suffrage movement and by 1904 became involved in the struggle. She co-founded the first national women's labor umbrella organization in Hungary and the Hungarian Feminist Association. She also assisted in organizing the Seventh Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, hosted in Budapest in 1913.