September 27

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Women peacemakers born today

  • 1871 Josepha Whitney born Washington D.C. (d. 1968). Visual artist, specializing in landscapes. Suffragist. Chair of Connecticut Women’s Peace Party. President of New Haven League of Women Voters. Democratic candidate for state Senate, 1922.

  • 1918 Faith Bandler born Tumbulgum, New South Wales (d. 2015). Australian of Vanuatu heritage; leader in referendum on aboriginal rights, 1967. Opposed Cold War and nuclear weapons; passport confiscated 10 years after visit to Eastern Europe, 1951. Recipient of Sydney Peace Foundation Award, 2000; Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

  • 1953 Diane Abbott born London, England. First black woman Member of British Parliament, 1987; Labor Shadow Minister of International Development. Voted against wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; led opposition to bombing of Syria, 2015.

  • 1953 María Emma Mejía born Medellin. Colombian Foreign Minister 1996-8; sought reconciliation with Venezuela and opposed arms purchases; diplomat and journalist; second Secretary Union of South American Nations, 2011-12.

  • 1951 Hanelore Vonier born Weilmünster, Limburg, Germany. German expert on matriarchy and peaceful societies.

  • 1957 Mata Amritanandamayi born Parayakadavu, Kerala. Hindu guru "The Hugging Saint"; Gandhi/King Prize for nonviolence 2002; active in tsunami relief 2004; promoted empowering women.

  • 1968 Nancy Sánchez Méndez born Bucamaranga, Santander, Colombia. Journalist and peace activist in Colombian civil conflict. Co-founded Network of Trainers of Peace in Putumayo, 1996. Attended peace talks in Costa Rica, 2000. Organized protests against American drug war initiative Plan Colombia's tactics of militarization and fumigation, 2001. Coordinated La Ruta Pacifica de las Mujeres (“Women’s Peaceful Road”) national speak-out of 3,500 women against Plan Colombia, 2003. Founded Women’s Alliance of Putumayo, 2005. Joined Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Women PeaceMakers Program, 2012.

  • 1974 Carrie Brownstein born Redmond, WA. Antiwar rock musician.

  • 1984 Avril Lavigne born Belleville, Ontario. Canadian antiwar rock musician; promoter of Amnesty International campaign to save Darfur.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1900 First meeting of Women’s Universal Peace Alliance, Paris.

  • 1968 WILPF sponsored "Violence in Our Time" conference, Philadelphia.

  • 1983 Five Puget Sound Peace women entered Boeing plant, arrested for talking to workers.

  • 1985 Mary Sprunger-Froese and Sister Marie Nord were arrested at Martin Marietta plant, Denver, CO, for trying to destroy MX missile; imprisoned 2 months.

  • 1999 Three members of the Trident Ploughshares organization acquitted of charges of malicious damage to ship moored at Loch Goil, Scotland.

  • 2007 Stoltenberg’s Norwegian Cabinet attained female majority.

  • 2016 135 women leaders appealed to UN Secretary General Ban to end Korean War.