There were various influences upon the SDF's construction of the woman question. The formulation of the founding fathers was crucial, as was the SDF's narrowly economic definition of socialism. But precisely because the woman question was understood as a matter of private conscience, the whole issue was also influenced by key individuals.

The figure who is most heavily associated with the SDF and the woman question is the misogynist Belfort Bax. Although Bax often seemed to set the terms of debate for the woman question within the SDF, the party was also part of the Second International. Within the Second International, the crucial influence on the woman question was that of Clara Zetkin. How did she affect the SDF's understanding of the woman question? This chapter explores the influence of Bax and of Zetkin in two separate studies. A third case study explores the similarities and differences in the ways in which the SDF understood and organised around the categories of race and sex. Together these studies clarify further the ways in which the SDF constructed the woman question.

The paradoxical Mr Bax

Ernest Belfort Bax was a prominent and long-standing member of the SDF who had a profound influence on his party's understanding of the woman question. The fact that one individual could have such an effect on a wide-ranging set of issues is noteworthy in itself; but when that individual was also a well known misogynist, an explanation is required of his influence and its effect.