Radhika Coomaraswamy born Colombo, Sri Lanka September 17, 1953. Human Rights expert; UN Special Envoy on children in war 2006; UN Rapporteur on Violence against Women 1994-2003.
"[T]he quintessential values through which we affirm together that we are a single human community." (Manila, May 27, 1996; photo telegraph.co.uk)
Anna Julia Cooper born Raleigh, NC August 10, 1858 (d. 1964). Black educator and author, born a slave; PhD Sorbonne on French slavery.
"The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class—it is the cause of humankind, the very birthright of humanity." (A Voice from the South, pp. 121-2, 1892; photo Wikipedia)
Selina Cooper (née Coombe) born Callington, Cornwall, England December 4, 1864 (d. 1946). Leading British suffragist; labor organizer; opposed both World Wars and draft; organizer Women's Peace Crusade, WILPF.
Pelted with eggs and tomatoes, she said, "I'm stopping here, whatever you throw, so go and fetch all the stuff you've got to throw." (Howarth, Nov. 1913, spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Wcooper.htm; photo Spartacus edu)
Whina Cooper (née Te Karaka) born Hokianga, North Island, New Zealand December 9, 1895 (d. 1994). "Mother of the Nation" Maori leader of hikoi, nonviolent march against loss of lands, 1975; first president Maori Women’s Welfare League, 1951.
"Before I close my eyes, to see our Maori people understand the two races in New Zealand will love. . . that's what you want, that love between two people." (obituary, Independent, March 24, 1994; photo 1975 wikicommons pd)
Margery Corbett Ashby born Danehill, E. Sussex, England April 19, 1882 (d. 1981). British suffragist and politician; observed Versailles Peace Conference 1919; delegate to Geneva Disarmament Conference 1932; resigned 1935 when government rearmed; protested avoiding League of Nations 1937; drafted UN Human Rights Declaration; last demonstration at age 98.
On the dawn of WWII: "As human beings, as nations, as individuals even we must admit defeat and failure, blindness and negligence." (K. Offen, Global Feminisms, p. 167, 2010; photo spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk)
Rita Corbin born Indianapolis, IN May 21, 1930 (d. 2011). Anti-war artist; Catholic Worker.
"The works of war destroy crops and land, seize food supplies, destroy homes and villages, scatter families, contaminate water, imprison dissenters, inflict wounds and burns, kill the living." (her drawing contrasting the mercies; photo ritacorbin)
Piedad Esneda Córdoba Ruiz born Medellin, Colombia January 25, 1955. Afro-Colombian; legislative representative, 1992-1994; senator, 1994-2010. Negotiated release of FARC prisoners, 2007; nominated for Nobel Peace Prize, 2009.
"There's no turning back from peace."
"Our mission is to defeat the war." (Helda Martínez, Bogotá, Oct. 20, 2010, IPS/TerraViva; 2007 photo Wikipedia)
Stella Cornelius (née Cohen) born Sydney, Australia December 4, 1919 (d. 2011). Australian promoter of peace and conflict resolution; UN Peace Messenger; raised peace activist daughter Helena Cornelius. Founded Peace and Conflict Resolution Program of UN Association of Australia (UNAA), 1973; helped establish Media Peace Awards, 1978; founded Conflict Resolution Network, 1986, National Consultative Committee on Peace and Disarmament, 1986, and Macquarie University Centre for Conflict Resolution, 1988. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.
"From the very first, we said in order to do our work properly we must be interested in peacemaking, peacebuilding, peacekeeping. Not just nation to nation, not indeed just group to group, but person to person." (McGrath interview, 1982; photo Sydney Morning Herald)
Rachel Corrie born Olympia, WA April 10, 1979 (d. 2003). Jewish-American activist with nonviolent International Solidarity Movement; killed in Gaza by Israeli bulldozer, 2003.
"We are protecting civilians. We are unarmed. We are no threat to you. Please do not shoot." (Mother Jones, Sept./Oct. 2003; photo rachelcorrie.org)
Eugénie Cotton born Soubise, Charente-Maritime, France October 13, 1881 (d. 1967). French scientist, feminist, peace advocate; founding president pacifist Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF) Paris 1945, dedicated to peace, anti-fascism, anti-imperialism; Resistance to Nazis WWII; arrested for resistance to draft for Vietnam War 1950; opposed Algerian War; Stalin Peace Prize 1951; World Peace Council gold medal 1961.
"In a world determined to change the state of things that has led men to fight two horrible world wars within 25 year, the new element, the power of the mass of women active in public life, can and must be of very great importance." (Dec. 1945, Int. Cong. of Women cited by Francisca de Haan; photo blanc mesnil)
Kathleen D’Olier Courtney born Gillingham, England March 11, 1878 (d. 1974). British suffragette. Co-founded WILPF, 1915; chair of British WILPF, 1923-33. Executive of League of Nations Union; observer at San Francisco Conference for founding of UN; president of British UNA, 1949-51; awarded UN Peace Medal, 1974. Opposed Boer War and its concentration camps; opposed World War I and postwar famine.
“Somebody must begin to be good if the better world we were promised is ever to come.” (Daily News, 1920; photo Spartacus)
Ertharin Cousin born Chicago, IL May 12, 1957. “The Woman Who Feeds the World”; Director World Food Program 2012; lawyer and food executive; Nominee for UN Secretary General 2016.
“To end hunger in my lifetime. . . We have the tools, the technology, the commitment at a global level from donor countries.” (The Telegraph, March 30, 2013)
“Our responsibility is that we raise the resources and provide the support that is necessary to meet the food assistance needs of a hungry child, a poor person, wherever they are in the world.” (UN News Centre, May 1, 2013; photo dareoutloud.com)
Margaret "Gretta" Gillespie Cousins born Boyle, Ireland November 7, 1878 (d. 1954). British feminist and radical suffragist leader; spent one month in prison, 1910; anti-imperialist; founded and led two Indian women's organizations; first female magistrate in India; arrested in India for civil disobedience, 1933.
“Curiously enough, though I had the backing of some of the best women of India, I was the one voice publicly explaining and proclaiming the suffrage cause: not because I had any special fitness, but simply because the womanhood of India had not yet found its authoritative voice.” (James and Margaret Cousins, We Two Together, 1950)
“I . . . volunteered for militant action knowing it would result in my imprisonment. I knew that if I discussed my decision with relatives or friends they would feel bound to try to save me from suffering. It was my own urge, my own responsibility, and, I felt, my own privilege. At any rate my plan of action worked.” (We Two Together, p. 174; photo Speedie's blog)
Betsy Mix Cowles born Bristol, CT February 9, 1810 (d. 1876). “The Maria Chapman of the West.” Leading abolitionist and suffragist educator. Quaker absolute pacifist.
“Providence did not seem to open any door for me, so I pushed one open for myself.” (Harriet Keeler, History of Ashtabula Co., p. 100; photo Wikipedia)
Nancy Savage Coyle born February 11, 1932. Indiana peace activist.
"Dear people of Afghanistan, My family and I have all of you very much on our minds as we end another year of war in your country with no end in the immediate future. We just want you to know that there are many of us here in the United States of America who do not support this war and who are working to end it all as soon as possible." (Jan. 15, 2011)
Birgit Cramon-Daiber born Ebingen, Württemberg, Germany August 22, 1944. Green member of Parliament 1989; vice chair Greens in European Parliament 1992-94; founder The Common Good of Humanity; head Rosa Luxemburg Foundation; edited The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation, 2012.
“In many cases women generate a peace dividend under conditions of war, by maintaining relationships which circumvent the enmity created by war, through direct cooperation between women of the opposing parties. The experience and wisdom of women is of incalculable value for the peace building process.” (The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation, p. 67; photo birgitdaiber.eu)
Prudence Crandall born Hope Valley, RI September 3, 1803 (d. 1890). Quaker pacifist who first admitted Blacks to her Canterbury CT school 1833; arrested for violation of Black Law; speaker on abolition and suffrage.
"My life has been one of opposition. I never could find anyone near me to agree with me." (1887, in Irene Stuber, Women of Achievement; photo Conn. Women’s Hall of Fame)
Kate Crane-Gartz born Chicago, IL February 2, 1865 (d. 1949). Heiress to Crane plumbing fortune; pacifist labeled as a "Parlor Bolshevik" for her views; mother to two World War I soldiers who wrote her about the "useless slaughter" they witnessed. Opposed WWI; appealed to President Harding on behalf of conscientious objectors; provided funding for WILPF.
"War is the great atrocity." (Sept. 24, 1922, in Parlor Provocateur, p. 96)
"Our so-called civilization has brought us to the verge of destruction; in fact our government, according to its own statistics, spends 93 per cent of its income upon destruction—payment for past wars and preparing for future wars. Is it not time that we reversed these figures, and spend more than 7 per cent of our national income upon something of use to mankind?" (July 27, 1921 to Pasadena Evening Post, in Parlor Provocateur, p. 64; photo in front)
Mabel Cratty born Bellaire, OH June 30, 1868 (d. 1928). Internationalist; suffragist; leader of YWCA. Co-founded National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War with Carrie Chapman Catt, 1924. Promoted League of Nations and Kellogg-Briand Pact.
"We must love more and more people, and love them more and more deeply, for there is so much hatred in the world today, and hate is so terribly destructive." (Margaret Burton, Leader in the Art of Leadership, p. 25, 2007; photo Ohio Wesleyan Univ.)
Helen Jack Crawfurd born Glasgow, Scotland November 9, 1877 (d. 1954). Scottish peace leader against World War I; internationalist; Socialist/Communist; organized famine relief in Russia, Germany and Ireland, 1920; arrested four times for suffrage protests, 1912-14, released after hunger strikes; founding conference of WILPF Hague; founded Women's Peace Crusade, 1916; arrested three times for antiwar activity; Commonwealth peace conference participant, 1939.
"If Christ could be a Militant so could I." (bio. Alternative Perthshire; photo Radical Glasgow)
Women in Peace
is dedicated to highlighting the achievements of extraordinary, peacemaking women from around the world.
