Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay born Mangalore, Karnataka, India April 3, 1903 (d. 1988). Gandhian freedom fighter and leader of arts and crafts revival; arrested for Salt march.
"[T]here are so many things to do in life, I do not have enough time." (to Dr. Narasimhan, c. 1988; photo IBNlive)
Sarala Devi Chaudhurani born Jorasanko, Kolkata, India September 9, 1872 (d. 1945). Indian nationalist leader, "Bengal's Joan of Arc"; favorite of Gandhi; feminist; singer and composer; polyglot writer; teacher and social reformer (dowry); Theosophist.
"How can we attain rights? By the strength of our agitation." (Tamil Nadu Women's Conference, in Geraldine Forbes, Women in Modern India, Vol. 4, p. 154, 1996; photo Wikipedia)
Esther Chávez Cano born Chihuahua, Mexico June 2, 1933 (d. 2009). Human rights activist. Began campaign against murder of women in Juárez, 1992. Founded Casa Amiga shelter, 1999. Awarded National Human Rights Prize, 2008.
"The women of Juárez are not just Juárez's dead. They are the world's dead, for they were killed simply because they were women. Let us all cry out: 'Not one more woman assassinated, raped or even insulted!'" (2008, in Independent, Jan. 15, 2010; photo NMSU Library)
Helen Fabela Chávez born Brawley, CA January 21, 1928. Nonviolent advocate for farm workers; inspired her husband, César; arrested four times for civil disobedience; jailed 3 days for shouting "Huelga!" (photo http://bit.ly/Ahgu8K)
Naomi Chazan (née Harman) born Jerusalem November 18, 1946. Israeli politician. Expert on African politics. Member of Knesset, 1992-2003. Professor emerita of Political Science and African Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; former chair of Truman Research Institute, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Delegate to UN women’s conferences in Nairobi and Beijing. President, New Israel Fund, 2008-12.
“The majority on both sides favors a just and durable negotiated peace.” (Times of Israel, July 29, 2013; photo Wheeler Centre)
Andrée Chedid born Cairo, Egypt March 20, 1920. Lebanese-Egyptian poet and writer. Condemned the futility of war in her novel House without Roots.
In the spiral of ages
In the black winds of hatred
love is too light.
(“Ceremonial of Violence” 1976; photo colby.edu)
Monique Chemillier-Gendreau born Antananarivo, Madagascar April 14, 1935. French jurist, professor of international law; numerous cases at World Court; sponsor of Russell Tribunal on Palestine; critical of US violation of international law in Vietnam agent orange, Iraq, Kosovo, Guantanamo.
“The march toward catastrophe and the climb toward the apocalypse are not projections of depressed souls. The burden of militarization of all societies is a reality. The development of world industry is oriented toward preparation for war, and not for peace or for the welfare of its peoples.” (De la Guerre; photo youtube.com)
Erica Chenoweth born Ohio April 22, 1980. American professor of international relations; expert on civil resistance. Co-authored Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict, 2011.
"Nonviolent resistance campaigns are about twice as effective as violent ones in achieving their goals. We also found that these trends hold even where most people expect nonviolent resistance to be ineffective—for instance, against dictatorships and highly repressive regimes." (Street Spirit, March 7, 2012; photo du.edu)
Valentina Cherevatenko born Donetsk, USSR January 20, 1956. Russian human rights activist. Founded Women of the Don Region to promote human rights and peace by nonviolent means, 1993. Actively helped postwar victims of trauma in Chechnya and Donetsk. Received Anna Politkovskaya Award, 2016.
“[I]n the last war, we had enemies, who came to our land. And here, in Chechnya, in Grozny, we saw a different war, where on the other side of the trenches were the same people, and. . . [w]e saw a real tragedy, burned apartment, destroyed houses, streets. . . . and the grave, the grave in the center of the courtyard. We found the people most ordinary people, people of different nationalities who have been held hostage to this tragedy.” (mabtribune.com, Oct. 16, 2016; photo Amnesty International)
Janet Cherry born Cape Town, South Africa October 12, 1961. South African white opponent of Apartheid; underground ANC; Secretary-General National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) 1982; joined Black Sash 1984; led End Conscription Campaign “Troops Out” 1985-8; detained without charges each year 1981, 1985-8; house arrest 1989; trainer for Centre for Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS) Belgrade, professor after liberation.
“Inside South Africa, the vast majority of the leaders and members supported the ANC and its armed struggle—or its moral right to take up arms in a ‘just war’—however we understood that we could be more effective in mobilizing people against the state through mass action, and the use of violence would undermine our organizations and render them vulnerable.” (Mary E. King, A Quiet Revolution, p. 319; photo youtube.com)
Mary Albee Chesley AKA Tarabehn born Nova Scotia, Canada July 30, 1891 (d. 1936). Canadian Gandhian. Served as itinerant banker to rural women; raised funds for Russian and Chinese famine relief, aid to German children; Quaker family; died of pneumonia on pilgrimage to Hindu Buddhist holy site Badri-Kedar on Tibetan frontier. Described by Gandhi “one of the noblest women had the good fortune to meet.” (Harijan, May 16, 1936).
Ada Nield Chew born Audley, Staffordshire, England January 28, 1870 (d. 1945). Suffragist leader; labor organizer; radical feminist; pacifist. Opposed to World War I. Tried to attend Hague Women's Peace Congress, 1915; founding member of WILPF.
On her pro-war colleagues: “The militant section of the movement. . . would without doubt place itself in the trenches quite cheerfully, if allowed. It is now. . . demanding, with all its usual pomp and circumstance of banner and procession, its share in the war. This is an entirely logical attitude and strictly in line with its attitude before the war. It always glorified the power of the primitive knock on the nose in preference to the more humane appeal to reason.” (Cotton Factory Times, March 9, 1917; photo Wikipedia)
Judy Chicago (née Cohen) born Chicago, IL July 20, 1939. Anti-war feminist and artist; contributed to LA Peace Tower against Vietnam War 1966; Holocaust Project 1993.
"I believe in art that is connected to real human feeling, that extends itself beyond the limits of the art world to embrace all people who are striving for alternatives in an increasingly dehumanized world." (1983, The Art Story Foundation; photo lewallencontemporary.com)
Gaositwe K.T. Chiepe born Serowe, Bechuanaland August 20, 1926. First woman in Botswana cabinet 1974; top ambassador, 10 years Foreign Minister 1984-94; active in negotiation of Lomé Conventions for European trade and aid to Africa 1975; supported UN measures against Apartheid and promoted Namibian independence; observed elections Zanzibar, Zimbabwe 2000.
On Apartheid: "It would indeed be unnatural to expect millions of people denied basic human rights to fold their arms and resign themselves to perpetual servitude." (Botswana Daily News, Jan. 29, 1984; photo proudlyafrican.info)
Lydia Maria Child (née Francis) born Medford, MA February 11, 1802 (d. 1880). Nonviolent abolitionist; transcendentalist; author; poet; editor. Co-founded the world's first nonviolent society, 1838; known as the "First Lady of the Republic."
"The cure for all the ills and wrongs, the cares, the sorrows, and the crimes of humanity, all lie in the one word 'love.' It is the divine vitality that everywhere produces and restores life." (The Mother's Book, 1831; photo Wikipedia)
Laura Chinchilla Miranda born Carmen Central, San José, Costa Rica March 28, 1959. First woman president of Costa Rica, 2010-14. As president, submitted dispute with Nicaragua to World Court and accepted decision, 2011. Under her leadership, Costa Rica became second nation to ban nuclear weapons, 2011.
“In 1948, we decided to consolidate the best of our civic values, and abolished the army. We chose to solve our disputes through the ballots, not the bullets; we decided to invest in schools and teachers, not garrisons and soldiers. This uninterrupted path turned Costa Rica into the most stable and longest-living democracy in Latin America.” (UN, April 2, 2002; photo Wikipedia)
María Chinchilla Recinos born Las Animas, Asuncion Mita, Guatemala September 2, 1903. Girl’s school teacher; "the first martyr" shot to death by mounted soldiers 1944 in nonviolent protest in Guatemala City which led to overthrow of dictator Ubico; dressed in mourning, women called for end to bloodshed.
"Brave women! We too are not frightened!" (crowd's response per Galvez, in Ileana Ochoa dissertation "Asociaciones Femininas", 2002, p. 71; photo mariachinchilla.blogspot.com)
Christine Chinkin born Kent, England March 27, 1949. Professor of international law, London School of Economics. Presided as judge of Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal, Tokyo, 2000. Member of UN Human Rights Council Gaza Fact-Finding Mission, 2009; member of UN Kosovo Human Rights Advisory Panel, 2010-present.
“Confining women for the sole purpose of sexual service at the bidding of military personnel deprives them of the rights of ownership to their bodies, the embodiment of slavery.” (“Toward the Tokyo Tribunal 2000”, iccwomen.org; photo iuscogens)
Shirley Chisholm born Brooklyn, NY November 30, 1924. First African-American congresswoman, 1968; first African-American presidential candidate, 1972; maiden speech in House opposed the Vietnam War.
"The number-one priority of the new administration is to buy more and more weapons of war, to return to the era of the cold war, to ignore the war we must fight here—the war that is not optional." (maiden House speech, March 26, 1969; photo 1972 wiki pd)
Joan Chittister born April 26, 1936. Benedictine nun, author and lecturer; co-chair of Global Peace Initiative of Women 2002 partnered with UN in dialog with Iraqi women 2006.
Save us from our desire to hurt as we have been hurt,
To punish as we have been punished,
To terrorize as we have been terrorized.
(Prayer for World Peace mercymidatlantic.org; photo peacecouncil.org)
Women in Peace
is dedicated to highlighting the achievements of extraordinary, peacemaking women from around the world.
