Elizabeth Hussey Whittier born Haverhill, MA December 7, 1815 (d. 1864). Quaker pacifist; poet; abolitionist; founder of Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston, 1833; mobbed, 1835; sister of poet.
"Shall the Koran teach thee the Law of Love?
O Christian! Open thy heart and door"
(Charity in JGW Works 483; A.L.McPhail sketch from Pickard Life of JGW)
Clara Meijer-Wichmann born Hamburg August 17, 1885 (d. 1922). Dutch jurist, sociologist, feminist, anarchist and philosopher of nonviolence; co-founded Committee on Crime & Punishment 1919; cofounded International Anti-Militarist Bureau 1920.
"We are far from making nonviolence another dogma." (photo nox.home.xs4all.nl)
Matilda Widegren born Söderköping, Sweden August 7, 1863 (d. 1938). Swedish pioneer in peace education; first chair of Swedish WILPF, 1919-37; radical pacifist; founded International Foyer for Refugees 1935; nominated Jane Addams for Nobel Prize.
Barbara Wiedner born Superior, WI December 16, 1928 (d. 2002). Catholic opponent of nuclear weapons; repeated arrests for nonviolent civil disobedience; founded Grandmothers for Peace, 1982.
"I hope people will not think we are encouraging people to break the law, But our actions should teach people, and children, to scrutinize laws against human life, and they should be broken to prove a point." (May 11, 1982; photo http://bit.ly/yyxE6r)
Annabelle Wiener born New York, NY August 2, 1922 (d. 1999). Deputy Director of World Federation of UN Associations (WFUNA) 1991; ran philatelic program promoting UN; Special Adviser on International Women's Year.
"There was a mixture of idealism, combined with a healthy realism among these delegates as to the magnitude of the task in development of public opinion on the United Nations." (on founding of WFUNA, UN Chronicle, June 1993)
Laura Sue Wilansky born Bethlehem, PA January 9, 1952. Flautist “The Silver Nightingale”, poet, journalist, actor; created Nightingales 51 Peace Project 2003.
“With all that is going on in the United States and around the world, I want very much to do something to make a difference, to stop war and hatred. . . I want to do something big. Yet I feel so small, powerless to make a difference against the monumental forces at work in the world.” (silvernightingale.com, Jan. 9, 2003)
“Take the fences and put them around the White House and the Pentagon and Congress and the FCC and Homeland so-called Security and the Nuclear so-called Regulatory Commission to keep the inmates in and the rest of us safe!” (“Recycle Nuclear Plants!”, 2007; photo silvernightingale)
Emma Wheeler Wilcox born Johnstown, WI November 5, 1850 (d. 1919). American peace poet.
THE OLD CENTURY:
War's most hideous crimes
Besmirch the record of these modern times.
Degenerate is the world I leave to you,
THE NEW CENTURY: We shall talk more of love, and less of sin,
In this new era. We are drawing near
Unatlassed boundaries of a larger sphere.
(Meeting of the Centuries 1901; photo Wisc. History)
Laura Ingalls Wilder born Pepin, WI February 7, 1867 (d. 1957). American author.
"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. . . live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge." (comments on Romans XII in Wilder's Bible; photo Wikipedia)
Glenda Wildschut born District Six, Cape Town, South Africa March 12, 1953. Psychiatric nurse experienced in trauma of Apartheid; worked with WHO on trauma in war zones. Founded Cape Town's first trauma center, 1993. Commissioner of Truth & Reconciliation Commission, 1995.
“A post-conflict process of reconciliation can only succeed if it is legitimate in the eyes of the victims.” (Wildschut & Hauupt, “I’ll Walk Beside You”, 2004; photo uct.ac.za)
Joan Wile (née Meltzer) born Rochester, NY July 17, 1931. Founder and historian of Grandmothers Against the War 2003; singer, lyricist, composer; weekly vigil at Rockefeller Center 2004; arrested for attempt to enlist Times Square 2005.
“[T]he United States invaded Iraq, a country that posed no threat and that had done us no wrong. The invasion was justified by then-President George W. Bush on the basis that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction which it was ready to launch against us. These lies ultimately led to the deaths, maiming and displacement of millions of innocent Iraqi civilians, and the deaths, maiming and mental breakdowns of thousands upon thousands of U.S.and allied troops engaged in this great folly.” (OpenEd News, March 22, 2010; photo C-Span)
Ellen Wilkinson born Manchester, England October 8, 1891 (d. 1947). First female British cabinet minister, 1945; pacifist; Fabian Socialist; led march of unemployed, 1936; founding president of UNESCO, 1945.
"Wars have got to be prevented. But prevention of war alone is not enough. We need the organisation of something positive—the positive creation of peace and the ways of peace. That is our task at this Conference." (as president of founding of UNESCO, Nov. 2, 1945; photo Spartacus)
Jemima Wilkinson born Cumberland, RI November 29, 1752 (d. 1819). Quaker pacifist; founded Universal Friends Society, 1775; utopian commune Lake Seneca, 1790.
"Do unto all men as you would be willing they should do unto you." (Notable American Women III:609; photo from David Hudson's History 1821)
Emma Hart Willard born Berlin, CT February 23, 1787 (d. 1870). Educator. Founded first women's seminary, 1814; proposed Universal Peace, one of the first plans for an international organization, 1820; one of the first to aid women abroad, Greece, 1833.
Frances Willard born Churchville, NY September 28, 1839 (d. 1898). "Saint Frances"; suffragist leader; first woman college president, Northwestern Female College 1871; international temperance leader 1891; Vice President of Universal Peace Union 1888; first president of the National Council of Women of US 1888; "Polyglot Petition" 7 million signatures against international drug trade 1883.
"We are one world of tempted humanity. . . the whole world is my parish and to do good my religion." (Ruth Bordin, Frances Willard: A Biography, p. 190,1986)
"The world is wide, and I will not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum." (journal, 1860; photo Wikipedia)
Anita Parkhurst Willcox born Chicago, IL November 11, 1892 (d. 1984). American artist. Embraced pacifism after experiences entertaining World War I troops in France. Opposed World War II, Korean War, and nuclear weapons; promoted UN. Founded refuge from Cold War in interracial community Village Creek, Connecticut. Acted as Quaker representative at communist conference, resulting in confiscation of her passport, Beijing, 1952; overturned by Supreme Court, 1958.
“Keep itching fingers away from nuclear push buttons!” (anti-Goldwater cartoon “We are Scared!”, 1964; self-portrait Wikipedia)
Betty Williams born Belfast, Northern Ireland May 22, 1943. Founded Northern Irish Peace People with Mairead Corrigan, 1976; shared Nobel Peace Prize, 1976.
"The only force which can break down those barriers is the force of love, the force of trust, soul-force. . . We are deeply, passionately dedicated to the cause of nonviolence, to the force of truth and love, to soul-force." (Nobel Acceptance Speech, 1977; photo Nobel)
Carol Griffith Williams born Butte, MT February 3, 1943. Executive Director and co-founder Peace Links, a women’s organization to prevent nuclear war, to build peace, and find alternative ways to end conflict 1985-96; organized exchange with Russian women; promoted Russian pen pals; Montana legislator.
“[D]uring the Reagan years it became really clear that the build up of nuclear weapons was going to be something that was not only going to be very costly but was very dangerous. That really kind of captured women a little bit because on the surface of it most women understood. You didn't have to write a book about it for them. They understood that nuclear weapons didn't make them feel safer.” (David Brooks interview, June 18, 2002; photo healthunit.umt.edu)
Ethel Williams born Cromer, Norfolk, England July 8, 1863 (d. 1948). British pediatrician; Socialist pacifist who opposed World War I, joining Union of Democratic Control; suffragist; delegate to WILPF congress Zurich 1919; supported postwar relief to former enemies.
“We must find the path of cooperation of nations. . . We must use our great powers, our knowledge and our science for the social progress of mankind and not in senseless competiton which brings war.” (St. Louis, Lawrence World-Journal, May 16, 1924; photo reflectionsofnewcastle1914)
Jenni Williams born Gwanda, Matabeteland, Zimbabwe April 1, 1962. Co-founded nonviolent WOZU (Women of Zimbabwe Arise), arrested 43+ times; imprisoned 2008 Bulawayo for protest against denial of food aid; Ginetta Sagan Prize 2012.
"Part of strategic non-violence is that you have to create the dilemma, put yourself in the position and then if you are beaten, arrested, tortured, you expose that injustice without retaliating. It's been easier to train the women than it is to train the men." (Zimbabwean, May 25, 2012)
"We call it tough love because we love our country enough to sacrifice being arrested and beaten." (NicoleItano, womensenews.org/article.cfm?aid=2522; photo Wikipedia from frontlinedefenders.org)
Jody Williams born Brattleborough, VT October 9, 1950. Awarded Nobel Peace Prize for landmine abolition, 1997; advocates abolition of all nuclear weapons.
"It is immoral. It is unethical. It is unconscionable to me as a U.S. citizen that my country contemplates the possibility of use (of nuclear weapons)." (Japan Times online, May 10, 2010; photo wikicommons pd)
Women in Peace
is dedicated to highlighting the achievements of extraordinary, peacemaking women from around the world.
