 At the urging of the highly esteemed Social Democratic Party of Germany, the Second International passed a resolution in August 1907 calling upon the Socialist parties of the world to launch their own women's sections to agitate for the right to vote and to better target socialist propaganda to a female audience.The governing National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America was quick to follow this international guidance, approving a national lecturer for the organization of independent women in January 1908 and moving the question of women's relationship to the socialist movement onto the agenda for the May 1908 National Convention of the party, held in Chicago.Further motivated by a May 12, 1908, gathering of the non-party Socialist Women's League of Chicago — held simultaneously with the party conclave — the 1908 SPA National Convention formally approved the previous appointment of a national lecturer for women and recommended the establishment of a five-member Woman's National Committee to coordinate the party's female-oriented activities.