Women peacemakers born today

1819 Esther Whinery Wattles born Salem, OH (d. 1908). Schoolteacher. Radical Quaker nonresistant abolitionist. Member of several utopian communes in Ohio, Indiana, and Kansas dedicated to nonviolence and women’s rights.
1933 Hazel Henderson born Bristol, England. Anglo-American economist and futurist. Authored global plan for UN funding, 1995.
1934 Jutta Limbach born Berlin, Germany. Democratic Socialist jurist and law professor. First female president of German Federal Court, 1994-2002.
1945 Anna Mae Aquash born Nova Scotia, Canada (d. 1975). Canadian First Nations leader; member of Micmac tribe; teacher with American Indian Movement. Led Trail of Broken Treaties March, 1972.
1949 Christine Chinkin born Kent, England. Professor of international law, London School of Economics. Member of UN Human Rights Council Gaza Fact-Finding Mission, 2009; member of UN Kosovo Human Rights Advisory Panel, 2010-present.
1949 Dubravka Ugrešić born Kutina, Croatia, Yugoslavia. Croatian writer. Opposed Balkan War and militant nationalism, 1991; exiled, 1993.
1950 Esther Benbassa born Istanbul, Turkey. French-Jewish historian and politician. Awarded Seligman Human Rights Prize for work against racism, 2006; elected French senator, 2011.
1963 Ghada Shahbender born Cairo, Egypt. Egyptian pre-Tahrir organizer; poet. Co-founded anti-corruption reform group Shayfeencom ("We are watching you"), 2005; first recipient of James Lawson Award for nonviolence, 2012.

Women's peacemaking on this day

1870 In Geneva, Marie Goegg-Pouchoulin convened the first meeting of the International Association of Women.
1959 Jacquetta Hawkes led thousands on the second Aldermaston march to London in protest of nuclear weapons.
1960 Mama Chikamoneka marched topless alongside other women to protest for independence during Secretary of State for the Colonies Ian Macleod's visit to Zambia.
1965 Alice Herz died of burns sustained from her March 16 immolation protest against the Vietnam War.
2007 Code Pink held its "Camp Pelosi" protest at the San Francisco Federal Building, demanding an end to Iraq War.
2014 After 17 years of negotiations, the Philippine government signed a comprehensive peace, shaped by women's efforts, with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.