The Rhenish women's league (Rheinische Frauenliga) was an organisation set up by the Rheinische Volkspflege (Protectors of the Rhenish people) to bring together various primarily middle class women's organisations initially to campaign against the use of African troops by the French Army in the occupation of the Rhineland. The idea was initiated by a member of the Cologne-based Neven du Mont family and taken up by the civil servant Margarete Gärtner, who organised the first conference in Frankfurt am Main, 23-24 June 1920. The conference ratified her as the leader.[1]