Feminist peace activists have campaigned actively for universal disarmament since the late nineteenth century. Legal exclusion from the public sphere and political marginalization within mainstream peace movements led many to form women’s organizations committed to universal disarmament and to organise transnationally as they did so in 1915.
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The adoption of the 1919 Versailles Treaty did little to advance the legal standing of women and inclusion in the political sphere was limited to issues scripted as of concern to women. That said, the very creation of a multilateral institution – the League of Nations – charged with furthering disarmament presented new opportunities for feminist activism.
In particular, the League’s announcement in 1925 of its intention to convene a World Disarmament Conference galvanized peace activists to mobilize nationally and transnationally. For example, in Britain and Ireland, women representing 28 different organizations, including WILPF, organised a Peacemakers’ Pilgrimage to garner nationwide support for disarmament.
In May 1930, WILPF launced a global petition calling for world disarmament. By the opening of the Conference in February 1932, 8 million signatures had been gathered from different countries across the world which were presented to the delegates in Geneva.
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By the mid-1930s, the Disarmament Conference had all but collapsed amidst rising militarism and a global arms race among states. Transnational feminist peace activism was suspended with the outbreak of World War II
In the immediate post-war period, women were able to secure an institutional foothold in the newly created UN system and ensure that women’s rights were protected through international instruments guaranteeing non-discrimination, including the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Yet, notwithstanding normative gains, throughout the Cold War period the field of disarmament and arms control was dominated by men.
The escalating arms race among nuclear weapon states together with nuclear testing programmes galvanized a new generation of women to take direct action at the domestic level. For example, in the US, women organised nationally to halt testing while, in the UK, feminist activists mobilized to challenge the deployment of US cruise missiles, most notably at Greenham Common.
Feminist activists have often been at the forefront of challenging the development and the use of weapons by states through non-violent collective action. Some of this work has delivered change. Universal disarmament remains the ultimate objective.
Click here to see ‘Napalm Ladies’ – the story of feminist peace activism.