Mothers Against War

Perhaps this month you were on the giving or receiving end of some sweet-smelling or -tasting goodies? People in many countries around the world celebrate a Mothers Day every May, and the day has an interesting history.

Mothers and motherhood have been acknowledged by various celebrations through the ages, and over a century ago Julia Ward Howe linked motherhood with world peace.

In 1870 she composed an appeal addressed to women and mothers everywhere, urging them to condemn war and killing, and to gather together to seek for peaceful solutions to the many problems of our nations - a Mothers Day for Peace.

Many other women have devoted all or part of their energies in trying to bring about an end to war, to bring about an amicable settlement of national differences. Just nine of these women have been recognised by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee.

They are:

• Baroness Bertha von Suttner - Nobel Peace Prize in 1905
• Jane Addams - shared Nobel Peace Prize in 1931
• Emily Green Balch - shared Nobel Peace Prize in 1946
• Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan - Nobel Peace Prize in 1976
• Mother Teresa - Nobel Peace Prize in 1979
• Alva Myrdal - shared Nobel Peace Prize in 1982
• Aung San Suu Kyi - Nobel Peace Prize in 1991
• Rigoberta Mench? Tum - Nobel Peace Prize in 1992

These women are just a few of those who have spoken out against, or actively campaigned against the wars that their own countries were engaged in; they are just a few of the women who have led marches demanding that peaceful solutions be negotiated by warring factions; they are just a few of the women who have protested against military dictatorships in their countries; they are just a few of the women who have devoted themselves to the care of the poor, the sick, and the homeless people of the world.

Women and mothers have a special investment in peace throughout the world. Mothers carry for nine months, and bear, often in pain and danger to ther well-being, and raise, the boys who are sent off to kill and to be killed when nations are unable to resolve their differences without violence.

Non-combatant women and girls are targeted by their enemies, as part of war-strategy, to be gang raped and murdered. The women of occupied territories are expected to provide sexual services to foreign soldiers, with or without payment. Women and girls in refugee camps are often forced by aid workers or Peace Corps, to exchange sex for food or for safe passage to another area.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic