Mediating women: the International Council of Women and the rise of (trans)national broadcasting

Almost from the start of radio broadcasting, the International <br/>Council of Women (ICW) took particular interest in the medium, <br/>founding a Broadcasting Committee in 1936. This article <br/>examines the organisation’s approach to radio as it emerged in <br/>the late 1920s and 1930s. It explores these developments <br/>through the identities of three women who steered the ICW’s <br/>broadcasting work: the internationalist French-American Laura <br/>Dreyfus-Barney; the Swedish journalist and women’s rights <br/>campaigner Margareta von Konow; and the ‘model fascist’ Italian <br/>mathematician Maria Castellani. It reveals the range and scope of <br/>ICW feminisms, the roles of its members as both activists and <br/>professionals, how women’s radio expertise was defined, and, <br/>finally, how radio broadcasting became a key part of ICW strategy.