CLIO TALKS BACK: The Women’s Peace Congress at The Hague

Women convene at the Hague in 1915

One hundred years ago this month (April 1915), in the midst of a major war on the European continent, a contingent of women associated with the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA) convened a congress in the Netherlands to discuss the prospects for peace. The previous fall, the IWSA had been forced to cancel its next congress, scheduled for Berlin, because of the outbreak of war. The initiative to meet in the spring came from women such as the pioneer Dutch physician Dr. Aletta Jacobs, who were concerned that the world’s women had no voice in matters of war – or peace.

The International Congress of Women, which met from the 28th of April through May 1st, 1915 in the The Hague, the capitol city of the Netherlands, made front-page news in the world’s newspapers. The American peace activist Jane Addams presided at the congress, which was attended by some 1500 women. Many others who had planned to come (especially from England) were blocked when the Allies “closed” the North Sea.

The organizing committee had decided, in the interests of fruitful discussion, to place “off limits” three burning issues concerning the war itself. These issues were (1) the causes of the war; (2) the manner in which it was being conducted; and (3) the responsibilities incumbent on the belligerent parties. It was clear enough that the German army had first invaded Belgium, a neutral country, and then France, and had occupied considerable territories in both; its soldiers had destroyed buildings and cultural property (including the famous library in Louvain), they had raped, pillaged, and plundered wherever they went – such misbehavior fostered immense public outrage once it was known (although the German women claimed to know nothing of this, probably due to heavy censorship of war news in Germany). So questions about the causes and consequences of the war were very controversial and evoked extremely emotional responses.

CLIO TALKS BACK: World War and Women

2014 marks the centenary of the outbreak of World War I (1914-1918).  On 28 June in Sarajevo,  the heir to the throne of the Dual Monarchy (Austria-Hungary) Franz-Ferdinand and his morganatic wife Sophie (the mother of their four children) was assassinated by a local terrorist.

            This tragic event led, within a month, because of the complex of secret diplomatic alliances between nations that fell into play, to the German Army’s swift invasion and occupation of Belgium and the northern part of France. 

            Thus began a European (then world) war that lasted for four long and brutal years, with many fighting fronts, much trench warfare, and – worst of all – horrific casualties. Airplanes became a weapon of war and poison gas was introduced. France alone lost 1.3 million men, and hundreds of thousands more were maimed for life or suffered severe psychological damage. Total war casualties are generally agreed to have topped 20 million. 

Most women in the combatant nations supported their country’s war effort, postponing their fight for the vote and other desirable reforms; victory seemed paramount. They took over men’s labor in the fields and factories, including the munitions plants.  By 1918, some 1.5 million women worked in building arms. There were a few women, however, who took a stand for peace. One of these was a French teacher and union administrator named Hélène Brion (1882-1962).

            In late 1917, Hélène Brion and several others were arrested and charged with treason; they were vilified by the mainstream press. They were tried in a military court in late March 1919. Brion was convicted, but her three-year prison sentence was suspended. 

            The unusual part of this trial was Hélène Brion’s statement of defense, in which she invoked her status as a non-citizen under French law and claimed the intrinsic links between her work for peace and her feminist commitment. She talked back to power in a military court! She speaks to the difficulty women faced in ostensible democracies where women had no say in the making of laws (French women did not obtain the vote until 1944).

            Here, in Clio’s English translation, is her statement. Her words are still worth reading and pondering in today’s troubled times.

            “I appear before this court charged with a political crime; yet I am denied all political rights.

            “Because I am a woman, I am classified de plano by my country’s laws, far inferior to all the men of France and the colonies.  In spite of the intelligence that has been officially recognized only recently, in spite of the certificates and diplomas that were granted me long ago, before the law I am not the equal of an illiterate black man from Guadeloupe or the Ivory Coast. For he can participate by means of the ballot, in directing the affairs of our common country, while I cannot. I am outside the law.

“The law should be logical and ignore my existence when it comes to punishments, just as it is ignored when it comes to rights. I protest against its lack of logic.

“I protest against the application of laws that I have neither wished for nor discussed.

“This law that I challenge reproaches me for having held opinions of a nature to undermine popular morale. I protest even more strongly and I deny it!  My discreet and nuanced propaganda has always been a constant appeal to reason, to the power of reflection, to the good sense that belongs to every human being, however small the portion.

“Moreover, I recall, for form’s sake, that my propaganda has never been directed against the national defense and has never called for peace at any price: on the contrary, I have always maintained that there was but one duty, one duty with two parts: for those at the front, to hold fast; for those at the rear, to be thoughtful.

            “I have exercised this educational action especially in a feminist manner, for I am first and foremost a feminist. All those who know me can attest to it. And it is because of my feminism that I am an enemy of war.

            “The accusation suggests that I preach pacifism under the pretext of feminism. This accusation distorts my propaganda for its own benefit. I affirm that the contrary is true, and it is easy for me to prove it.  I affirm that I have been a militant feminist for many years, well before the war; that since the war began I have simply continued; and that I have never reflected on the horrors of the present without noting that things might have been different if women had had a say in matters concerning social issues.

[. . . . .]

“I am an enemy of war because I am a feminist. War represents the triumph of brute strength, while feminism can only triumph through moral strength and intellectual values. Between the two there is total contradiction.

            

“I do not believe that in primitive society the strength or value of woman was inferior to that of men, but it is certain that in present-day society the possibility of war has established a totally artificial scale of values that works to women’s detriment.

How United Religions Initiative Celebrated International Women’s Day

Elana Rozenman (near far left) from Israel visits a URI leaders in India.

As the official blog overseer of the United Religions Initiative (URI), I search for stories and try to raise the voices of our interfaith activists as best I can. So, as a woman who deeply cares about peace building and women’s rights, my job can be hugely rewarding.

As most Her Blueprint readers are well aware, International Women’s Day (IWD) was celebrated around the world on March 8^th. 

For me, it was a pure joy to learn about how this momentous occasion was interpreted and celebrated throughout the global URI network.

Our Cooperation Circles—that is, groups of seven or more that represent at least three different faiths or cultures—can be very progressive. Imagine people from every faith coming together to talk about the delicate state of the planet and how to become better stewards of the Earth —it happens everyday, somewhere within the URI network.  

Now imagine women coming together for peace: Christians and Muslims in Pakistan, Muslims and Jews in Jerusalem—this also happens, but on an even larger, or at least more visible, scale on International Women’s Day. 

The women of URI never need a reason to celebrate and unify for peace; however, IWD is a great way to mobilize a series of events on one day and under one unifying theme.

This year, the United Nation‘s official theme was “Equality for women is progress for all.” URI’s women leaders embraced this sentiment wholeheartedly. Here are a few snapshots of their events:

- Just south of Mumbai in Satara, India, hundreds of Hindu and Muslims women created Rangolis, or floor decorations, on the theme “Women they want to be.” A panel discussion was held on women’s roles in nation building through peace and communal harmony work.

-In Pakistan, Muslim, Christian, and Hindu women came together to receive dance and other performances by children with the theme of women’s empowerment. The female attendees spoke about the local Cooperation Circle WAKE (Women and Kids’ Education), and how its vocational training programs were empowering them to find better jobs.   

-In the Great Lakes region of Africa, more specifically, Kampala, a panel discussion with roughly 50 women from very diverse faith backgrounds was held. The theme was “Inspired by my faith for positive social change.” Women were given a safe space to discuss workplace discrimination, domestic abuse, and the lack of rights to their children and in owning property.  

-In Jerusalem, Israeli and Palestinian women came together to view Women of Cyprus, a documentary about Turkish and Greek women reconciling after the Cyprus conflict. Along with the Greek female parliamentarian who directed the film, a panel of Israeli and Palestinian women discussed the documentary’s relevance to their current situation.

At United Religions Initiative, our women leaders are finding common ground and common goals, elevating both the cause for peace and the cause of women’s equality every day.

As UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon recently said, "The evidence is clear: equality for women means progress for all." 

CLIO TALKS BACK: Women’s Protests Against War have also been protests against squandering the wealth of nations, including their men, women, and children.

This “Manifesto of Women Against War” was prepared and distributed in late 1877 by a cross-national group of women who called themselves “The Society for the Defense of the Rights of Woman.”

Based in Geneva, Switzerland, this group spun itself out from another women’s progressive group called “La Solidarité,” which adopted these principles at its general assembly of September 1877.

Their manifesto, created in a climate of high tension between several European nations, was reproduced by the following newspapers: L'Avenir des femmes, La Finance nouvelle, Paris; Il Secolo, Milan; La Dona, Rome; The Woman's Review,The Arbitrator, London; Woman's Journal, Boston; The Voice of Peace, Philadelphia; Les Etats Unis d'Europe.

Clio reminds readers that this manifesto is more than a statement of moral outrage; it also points to the economic consequences of war – the “detestable waste of human lives and of riches, the devastation of entire countries.”

MANIFESTO OF WOMEN AGAINST WAR

We, the women of all countries, we, who form the half of the contingent of Nations, we, whom the laws of men have excluded from those councils in which of old, the voice of our mothers made the cause of peace to triumph, we to whom barbarous war spares neither death nor the most cruel outrages, we, whom it deprives of all which can attach a being to life father, husband, son, fireside we whose consciences have not learned to distinguish between solitary instances of homicide, justly condemned and punished, and the homicide en masse which is rewarded by a vain glory when it is executed upon innocent beings, we, who have not forgotten the commandment “Thou shalt not kill,” we whom society judges capable of fulfilling the heaviest duties without the compensation of corresponding rights, we, whose mission on earth is conciliation, peace and devotion, we whom a longer silence would render accomplices of this detestable waste of human lives and of riches, the devastation of entire countries, -- we protest with all our energy against war, that odious abuse, that offense; against the voluntary abandonment of the effectual and peaceful method of “international arbitration.”

We protest in the name of humanity whose most holy laws war violates, in the name of the Fatherland which war deprives of its sons, in the name of the family which war mutilates and destroys, in the name of progress which war banishes, in the name of morality which war perverts.

We women, we mothers, we guardians of the family we demand of all men of heart a brotherly humane concurrence in this holy crusade.

We address a supreme Appeal to legislators - to the educators of youth – to put forth laws to second our efforts, to teach to our sons to feel a horror of war, a horror of carnage, a horror of fratricide!

Signed:
Mesdames: V. GRIESS TRAUT
Christine LAZZATTI ROSSI
Mathilde HUNZIKER
Louise DE VIRTE
Marie GOEGG, President of the Central Committee.

Source: Mesdames V. Griess Traut, et al., “Manifesto of Women Against War,” as translated in The Woman’s Journal, vol. 9, no. 4 (26 Jan. 1878), p. 4; originally published in French as “Manifeste des femmes contre la guerre,” in the Minutes of the General Assembly of “La Solidarité,” Fall 1877, p. 24.

CLIO TALKS BACK: Clio Eavesdrops on the International Congress of Women, 1933

When Clio feels pessimistic about the present, she dips into the record of the past, looking for the deeds and words of women. And sometimes she comes up with very juicy morsels such as this 1933 speech, “The World As It Is.”

The speaker is a woman lawyer,a suffrage and disarmament activist from France, Marcelle Kraemer-Bach (1896-1990), who was visiting Chicago in the course of a trip around the world. And like so many others, then and since, she believed that women held the key to peace and mutual understanding. Many of us still think so today, including many members of the IMOW community.

Here is a long excerpt from the speech given by Mme Kraemer-Bach at the International Congress of Women, which was sponsored by the National Council of Women of the United States during Chicago’s Century of Progress Fair (40 years after the World’s Columbian Exposition, during which the International Council of Women held its first major congress).

Clio thinks you will be surprised by how pertinent Marcelle Kraemer-Bach’s observations remain today – in the early 21st century. The details may differ – but these observations must be set in context of a recent, horrifying war, followed by economic frenzy and collapse, the Great Depression, the coming to power of the Nazi Party in Germany, and the rumblings of war in the Far East.

“I have to speak of the World as It Is! Well, I think it is in a mess; 30,000,000 people are unemployed. Through reduction of production and lack of exchanges there has been a loss of $35,000,000 which is three times the quantity of gold left in the world. Nations have selfish opinions. Tariffs are so high and often so absurd that we find countries which have overproduction and others mearby that know starvation.

“I was in Roumania last year, and saw corn being burned there; we all know that in Brazil, the coffee is thrown into the sea. That seems absurd as well as tragic. Some people are so poor and so unhappy, and others have many privileges. There seems to be no justice, and above all, we often see the shade of war. What can we do?

“Women haven’t done much until now – we must be frank and speak openly about it – women haven’t done much. They have not yet had their political rights for very long but they have had education a long time. But now, this Congress may be the beginning, if we really wish it to be, of a real change.

“Now women have political rights in nearly all countries. Women have education and opportunities in all countries. Why in the world don’t they do something?

“They are sometimes afraid to think for themselves. They dare not think. I believe that it is only through the education of younger generations that the world can be better, and it is only through mutual understanding; women of all countries should understand each other. They have, after all, common interests, and however different their ways of expression and feelings are, they are similar in so many things.

“Above all, women of democratic countries should find it very easy to cooperate. Our countries, the United States and France, are so similar in their democratic spirit, that it should be very easy, I think, to increase their mutual friendship. But I think that women of all countries should cooperate in a very loyal way. France loves peace and loves freedom, as the United States does, but all women of all the world must cooperate. M. [Aristide] Briand [leader of the campaign to outlaw war in the 1920s] has said that he believes that through women, peace could be brought to the world. Women must do this work of bringing about mutual understanding between nations, because the world is waiting for them to do it!

“Until now, women have only tried to give better health and better happiness to their children – and that is a great deal. But, what about it, if those children, in later days, know a terrible war, or if those children know unemployment, or if they know some other catastrophe which can happen – what about it?

“What will be the use of those children being happy and healthy, if all that can be destroyed in a minute if people get mad again and foolish again, as they might do?

“Women must avoid selfishness and they must also avoid laziness – laziness in thinking and laziness in action, in order to save their children from war and from other catastrophes. They must build up a new and peaceful world in order to save Our Common Cause – Civilization.”

Clio asks you to let IMOW know what you have done lately to promote peace and international understanding.

Source: Our Common Cause—Civilization: Report of the International Congress of Women (New York: National Council of Women of the U.S., 1933), pp. 162-163.