The League of Nations Secretariat was both an institution that offered new opportunities for women in international public administration and diplomacy, and a workplace marked by persistent discrimination against women. What women did and what they got paid for rarely matched.

This historical gender pay gap becomes evident when we look at what was arguably the League’s most important policy area: Disarmament. Within the Secretariat, the Disarmament Section was tasked with providing secretarial support and the curated data of military capabilities, arms production and arms sales for the various commissions that were meant to prepare a general disarmament convention. For most of the League’s existence, the heaviest workload within the Section fell onto the shoulders of one Polish woman: Liba Hersch.