The underlying aim of much of the work of the Social Section of the League of Nations was to improve the quality of life of women and children. Proposals put forward to reach this goal reflected assumptions about gender roles and relations as well as changing ideas about the role of the state in sustaining them. Recent comparative research on social welfare policies and programmes of western European countries and the United States between the 1880s and the end of the Second World War has demonstrated the importance of considering both the role of women in social welfare movements and the visions of gender embodied in the state-sponsored social policies that emerged. Popular notions about women's special capacity as actors in the social field also led to women's extensive participation in the social committees of the League of Nations (LN). The decision to appoint a woman, Dame Rachel Crowdy, as Chief of the Social Section was a conscious one. Unlike all other LN permanent advisory committees, women usually enjoyed equal representation on the social committees. In the same way, many government delegations to the LN Assembly included women who were then appointed to the Fifth Committee (Social Questions). The Social Section actively solicited the support of women's organisations in connection with the work of the social committees and many of their proposals were taken up by the League.