Maria Nicoletta Gaida born Tacoma, WA December 5, 1961. Italian-American actress. Founded Ara Pacis Initiative, Rome, 2009.
"[As a child] I wondered why there was war, why the leaders of the world couldn't share and apologize as we were taught to do at home." (introduction to Meditations on Forgiveness; photo libero credo)
Zehava Schnipitzky Gal-On born Vilnius, Lithuania January 4, 1956. Israeli politician. Member of the Knesset (Israeli legislative body), 1999-present; member of human rights organization B'Tselem, supporting evacuation of West Bank, and right of return. Served five-day prison term for organizing demonstration against the demolition of Qalqilyah homes; opposed second Lebanon war, 2006; opposed Gaza invasion, 2014.
"War has not defeated terrorism anywhere. That is why you have to conduct a parallel diplomatic process." (Al-Monitor, July 23, 2014)
"We want the only possible peace: Peace on the basis of the '67 lines and a division of sovereignty in Jerusalem." (Haaretz, July 24, 2014; photo Haaretz)
Kek Galabru born Phnom Penh, Cambodia October 4, 1942. Helped end civil war, 1991; founded Cambodian human rights organization LICADHO, 1992.
"[F]or me courage means that despite the intimidation of the ruling party, you do something good for the people, for the grassroots, for your country." (Kerry Kennedy interview; photo http://bit.ly/yspA6l)
Zona Gale born Portage, WI August 26, 1874 (d. 1938). American novelist, playwright and essayist; pacifist opposed to World War I; anti-war novel Heart's Kindred (1915) featured women's appeals for peace; against capital punishment; friend of Jane Addams; helped draft Wisconsin Equal Rights law 1923.
"No matter how murderin' is done, it's hell." (Heart's Kindred, p. 135, 1915)
Carmen María Gallardo Hernández born San Salvador, El Salvador November 28, 1947. Salvadorian diplomat; sponsored first International Forum on Culture of Peace, El Salvador 1993; representative to UNESCO 1992-4; Executive Director Salvadoran Foundation for Peace 1995-6; chair UN Development Program 2005; founding vice chair UN Peacebuilding Commission 2006; chair UN Commission on Status of Women 2006; first Salvadorian woman ambassador to UN 2007-12; member Core Group of International Task Force on Preventive Diplomacy 2007.
“[R]esolution 1325 was a cornerstone for an appeal for women’s equal participation in all peace and security initiatives and in post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation. Resolution 1325 emphasized the need to boost women’s role in conflict prevention and resolution. In El Salvador’s post-conflict situation, men and women experienced peace in different ways. In the context of armed conflict and in peacebuilding processes, one may wonder whether gender roles and relations were different, since men and women adapted differently to situations. Resolution 1325 allowed for the consideration of situations in a broad, gender-based manner.” (UN Security Council, June 19, 2008; photo Wikipedia)
Virginia Gamba born San Martín, Argentina April 13, 1954. Argentine professor, expert in disarmament; UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict 2017; UN Assistant Secretary for Chemical Weapons in Syria 2016; Director UN Disarmament 2012-4; Expert consultant on African Small Arms 2007-9; Director UN Inst. of Disarmament Research 1992-96.
“Disarmament and arms control help to reinforce [UN’s] primary norms—namely, the prohibition of the threat or use of force, and the duty to resolve disputes by peaceful means. All of these have to be pursued together because they are mutually reinforcing. Disarmament, peace, security, and human welfare are not alternatives—they function together to improve the quality of life on this planet.” (UN Office of Disarmament, Sept. 18, 2013; photo Univ. Central Okla.)
Bharti Gandhi born Bulandashahar, India August 8, 1936. Indian peace educator and child psychologist. Co-founded City Montessori School, Lucknow, 1959; the school won the UNESCO prize in peace education for its core curriculum of world peace, 2002.
“We rededicated ourselves to the cause of world unity." (Baha’i World News, June 20, 2002; photo aahadiaabadi award)
“If there is peace, unity, purity and divinity in peoples’ minds and hearts, wars will naturally stop. Mahatma Gandhi showed us the path to truth, nonviolence.” (The Pioneer, Lucknow, March 14, 2016)
Ela Gandhi born Phoenix Ashram, Natal, South Africa July 1, 1940. Granddaughter of Gandhi, opponent of Apartheid; under house arrest nine years 1975-83; member of S. African parliament 1994-2004; opposed domestic violence.
"Violence must be stopped and we must begin by eliminating it at home." (Barcelona interview, April 8, 2004; photo opnews.in)
Sonia Gandhi (née Maino) born Lusiana, Italy December 9, 1946. Nonviolent Indian leader of Congress Party, 1998; United Progressive Alliance, 2004.
"Violence seeks to impose and overwhelm, which is why its victories are transitory. Non-violence seeks to engage and persuade, which is why its results are enduring." (Speech to UN on first International Day of Nonviolence, Oct. 2, 2007; photo 2007 wikicommons pd)
Svetlana Gannushkina born Moscow March 6, 1942. Russian mathematician; human rights activist. Peacekeeper in Karabakh War, aiding refugees' return, 1988; helped victims of Chechen wars, 1994. Co-founded Memorial Human Rights Center, 1993, which won Nansen Prize, 2004. Openly protested seizure of Crimea and Donetsk area, 2014. Received Sakharov Freedom Prize, 2007; Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2010.
"Russia has no policy for Northern Caucasus; there are actions and convulsive moves aimed at preservation, and in some cases—at restoration of the empire, by acting with bayonets only, as the empire did. It results not in success, but in terrible, irreplaceable and unforgivable victims."(March 27, 2010, Chechen Republic; photo todayus.com)
Josefina García de Noia “Pepa Noia” born Barrio Norte, Buenos Aires, Argentina July 6, 1921 (d. 2015). Argentine human rights leader; one of 14 founding Mothers of the Plaza of May after military disappeared her daughter.
“As long as I can, and unless it rains, I will continue going to the Plaza de Mayo, demanding that they return all the victims that were forcibly disappeared.” (Buenos Aires Herald, Sept. 1, 2015; photo anred.org)
María Adela Gard de Antokoletz born October 11, 1911 (d. 2002). Argentine human rights activist; one of 14 founders of Mothers of May Plaza; vice president.
“A society that does not fight for its rights becomes a sick society, a society that lives in fear and horror that it can happen again.” (Eric Carlson, Remember Julia, p. 74; photo Prof Daniel Chiarenza)
Muriel Gardiner (née Morris) born Chicago, IL November 23, 1901 (d. 1985). American psychoanalyst; internationalist; opposed nuclear weapons; assisted escapees from Nazis in Vienna, 1938; co-founded Center for Innovative Diplomacy, "Dedicated to preventing nuclear and conventional war by increasing citizen participation in foreign affairs," 1982. (photo Int. Psychoanalysis)
Lucy Gardner born Leeds, England April 25, 1863 (d. 1944). Quaker peace leader; founding secretary Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) 1914; Secretary Conference on Christian Politics, Economics and Citizenship (COPEC) 1924, influential ecumenical pacifist Christian socialist body; sponsor of American Alice Paul as head of Charity Organization Society London 1907; edited FOR magazine Reconciliation; founder International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) 1919.
On suffragists destroying property: “It is very inconvenient to have our letters destroyed and to feel a sense of insecurity with regard to our property; it is distressing to read of women who are rightly and suitably punished for making war upon our material possessions, having so little sense of the justice of their punishment that they prefer to starve rather than submit. . . But what if, in some sense, they are right? What if they see more deeply into the heart of things than those of us who are content to give—not ourselves—but what we can spare easily from our normal life? What if they are the prophets and have a vision of a world redeemed by suffering and selflessness that we have not?” (The Friend, 1913, p. 573, in Pam Lunn, “You Have Lost…” 1997, p. 46)
Emily Gardner Phenis born Union County, Indiana January 16, 1825 (d. 1906). Quaker schoolteacher and reformer; radical non-resistant abolitionist; vegetarian. Opposed to all use of force. Member of Prairie Home Community, 1844.
“[There is] a spirit is working abroad working in the hearts of men and will not let them rest until the right prevails. Woman will yet be free.” (to Esther Wattles, May 10, 1846, in Thomas Hamm, “The Limits of the Peace Testimony”, 1993, p. 12; photo findagrave.com)
Pippa Gardner born Peterborough, Northamptonshire, England June 25, 1990. Girl Guide who founded campaign Stop the violence. Advocate for girls’ rights.
"Girls in every country across the world are being subjected to many forms of violence—this is wrong and must stop." (quote and photo saynotoviolence.org)
Janeane Garofalo born Newton, NJ September 28, 1962. American comedian and TV and film actress; antiwar activist, Code Pink march 2003 against Iraq and Afghan Wars.
"I absolutely would not say that this war in Iraq is a just war." (Fox News, Feb. 23, 2003; photo tvweekly)
Barbara Garson born Brooklyn, NY July 7, 1941. American playwright, author and activist; wrote popular anti-Vietnam war play "MacBird!", a parody of Shakespeare’s "Macbeth", 1967; arrested in Berkeley Free Speech Movement; Socialist candidate for vice-president 1992.
Where constant conflagrations blaze and rage
We mean to be the firemen of peace,
Dousing flames with freedom’s forceful flow.
Our highest goal is peace, but in its quest
We shall not fear to use our righteous might.
In short, we seek the Pox Americana
("MacBird!", Act II, Scene 2; photo Allegheny College)
Eleanor Garst born Nebraska May 20, 1915 (d. 1985). Co-founder Women Strike for Peace 1961, drafted its first appeal; co-founded SANE against nuclear weapons 1957.
“We believe that it is the special responsibility of women—who bear the children and nurture the race—to demand for their families a better future than sudden death.” (Andrea Estepa disser. “Taking the White Gloves Off” p. 35; photo legacy.com)
Alicia Garza born Los Angeles, CA March 4, 1981. Community organizer; anti-racism activist. Co-founded Black Lives Matter movement, 2013.
“When Black people get free, everybody gets free. . . Given the disproportionate impact state violence has on Black lives, we understand that when Black people in this country get free, the benefits will be wide reaching and transformative for society as a whole.” (“A Herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement,” The Feminist Wire, Oct. 7, 2014; photo yearofwomen.tumblr.com)
Women in Peace
is dedicated to highlighting the achievements of extraordinary, peacemaking women from around the world.
