June 29

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Women peacemakers born today

  • 1858 Julia C. Lathrop born Rockford, IL (d. 1932). Social reformer; associate of Jane Addams at Hull House; co-founded Immigrants' Protective League 1912; first head of U.S. Childrens' Bureau; worked with League of Nations Child Welfare Committee of 1925-31.

  • 1889 Gladys Walser born Kobe, Japan (d. 1975). First WILPF representative at UN, 1945-57.

  • 1908 Erna Prather Harris born Kingfisher, OK (d. 1995). African-American journalist and peace activist; WILPF leader. Founded and operated her own newspaper, The Kansas Journal, 1936-39.

  • 1914 Ellen Kuzwayo born Thaba 'Nchu, South Africa (d. 2006). South African leader and social worker; Head of ANC Youth League; only woman on Soweto Committee of Ten, for which she was arrested for five months, 1977.

  • 1943 Tarja Cronberg (née Mattila) born Helsinki, Finland. Finnish Green politician, “a Peace-builder”; Minister of Labor 2007-09; European Parliament member 2011-14, chaired its Iran committee which achieved nuclear control treaty 2015; Director Copenhagen Peace Research Institute 2001-03; vice president International Peace Bureau.

  • 1949 Ann M. Veneman born Modesto, CA. Executive Director of UNICEF 2005-10. First woman Secretary of Agriculture 2001-05 lowered tariffs in Doha Round; promoted Malaria No More.

  • 1952 Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge born Magog, KwaZulu. Quaker pacifist, negotiated end of Apartheid and new constitution; Dep. Minister of Defence 1999-2004 using army for peacekeeping in Africa; fired as Dep. Minister of Health 2007 after calling AIDS policy a disaster.

  • 1958 Pramila Patten born Mauritius. International expert in women’s rights. Vice-Chair of UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Served as commissioner of inquiry into Conakry massacre, 2009.

  • 1964 Manuela Mesa Peinado born Jaén, Andalusia, Spain. Professor of peace studies and education; founding director Centre for Education and Research for Peace (CEIPAZ) 2008; President Spanish Research Association for Peace (AIPAZ) 2007-13;Director Peace Research Center (CIP) 2004-7; vice president WILPF Spain 2011.

  • 1967 Shinjita Alam born Gandhabbapur, Lakshmipur, Bangladesh. Muslim social worker and peace activist. Started peace awareness committees, 2001. Developed conflict resolution programs for Bangladesh's Garo and Manipuri minority communities, 2006-07. Joined Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Women PeaceMakers Program, 2008.

  • 1972 Samantha Smith born Houlton, ME (d. 1985). "America's Goodwill Ambassador" to USSR during Cold War; as ten-year-old, wrote to Soviet leader.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1909 Gandhi welcomed to London by Emmeline Pankhurst, whose nonviolent tactics he admired.

  • 1909 Suffragists marched and broke government windows for the first time.

  • 1951 Chicago Peace Conference of Women.

  • 1951 International Labor Organization Convention on Equal Pay for Women signed.

  • 1976 Trial of women who invaded Larzac base; Marisette Tarlier got 15 days prison.

  • 2005 WILPF nominated 1,000 women for Nobel Peace Prize.

  • 2010 Nigerian women marched to Parliament to protest suspension of Doris Uboh.

  • 2015 In Sarajevo, a Bosnian court levied the first-ever reparations for rape, totaling €15,000.