Women peacemakers: An online educational tool

Throughout recorded history, women have faced gender discrimination through oppression, denial of their equality, and physical violence. Women worldwide have contributed to peace by taking public stands on issues of violence and war. In every society they begin by speaking out in public, where woman are forbidden to speak, and writing for publication, often in feminist fora. Soon come other challenges of social mores such as demanding an audience, writing petitions, and/or intruding on men's preserves. When ignored, women peacemakers engage in civil disobedience and nonviolent protests, many times uniquely different from male forms of dissent. Most women peacemakers do not resort to such extremes, but often risk their lives and reputations by trying to stop wars or violence. The failure to adequately document women peacemakers undervalues their contributions towards working to achieve peace. This presentation describes a collection of over 1000 selected women peacemakers across history from 11 geographic areas (Far East, India, Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, Western Europe, Northern Europe, North America, Southeast Asia/Pacific) and how they have contributed to peace and nonviolence. A small fraction of the collection will be discussed and demonstrated as an online, interactive (clickable) Women Peacemakers calendar (www.womeninpeace.org). The entire collection is organized so that a viewer can search women peacemakers from around the world by name or birth date. Each entry shows how she has contributed to peacemaking, which includes a quote and a picture. We hope that this collection will inspire future peacemakers.