Many peace movements existed before World War I, especially in the United States. The American Peace Society in 1825, the American Peace Union in 1866 and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. None of these organizations were run by women but after the outbreak of WWI, women came into their own as an international pacifistic force. "The prevailing philosophy of the time among men and women suggested that women shared certain nonaggressive attributes as females. Women, because they were biologically the 'mother half of humanity,' so the theory went, were by nature nurturing and sacrificing. As life-givers they were seen to be naturally more prone to conciliation, compromise and cooperation than the male of the species...If ever there was an area of endeavor that cried out for the special and unique attributes of the woman, it was in the realm of antiwar activity. The concept of peace was feminine, the concept of war and violence, masculine."2
"Those of us who have convened this Congress...have never called it a Peace Congress, but an International congress of Women assembled to protest against war and to suggest steps which may lead to warfare becoming an impossibility."1
-Dr. Aletta Jacobs, first woman doctor in the Netherlands
The Women's Peace Party was founded in the United States by Jane Addams and Carrie Chapman Catt. This group was the largest in the U.S., holding a Washington D.C. conference of over 3,000 participants. From this group, 47 delegates (including Angela Morgan) were sent to the Hague including Jane Addams who served as presiding officer of the conference of 1,135 attendants. This conference was notable not only because it was the first time an international group of women met during a war to discuss possible resolutions to the conflict, but their were representatives from neutral as well as "enemy" nations. "The Hague in 1915 was a remarkable occasion, the first and the last such meeting during wartime."3
These women passed 19 resolutions dealing with disarmament, suffrage and other feminist and pacifistic agendas. They became the International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace and later the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom which is still in existence today.
For a sample of the work done by the ICW click here.
To see a copy of the mission statement created on April 28, 1915 click here.
For more historical information on the ICW conference click here.
1. Bussey, Gertrude and Tims, Margaret, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, George Allen & Unwin LTD, London, 1965, p. 19.
2. Foster, Carrie A., The Women and the Warriors, Syracuse University Press, Syracuse 1995, p. 3.
3. Pierson, Ruth Roach, Women and Peace: Theoretical, Historical and Practical Perspectives, Croom Helm, London, 1987, p. 126.
