Globalization, Militarism, and Women's Collective Action

Abstract

Feminists and women's groups have long been involved in peace work, and their analyses and action have contributed much to our understanding of the roots of conflict and the conditions for conflict resolution. The activities of groups such as Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), Women Strike for Peace, and the Women of Greenham Common are legendary, and their legacy lies in ongoing efforts to feminize peace, anti-militarism, human rights, and development. At the Nairobi International Women's Conference in 1985, women decided that not only equality and development, but also peace, with its dark side of war, were their affairs (Pietila and Vickers 1994). As the Development Alternatives with Women in a New Era (DAWN) statement expressed it, Where is the rationality, not to mention humanity, in a situation where nuclear missiles can go from Western Europe to Moscow in six minutes, while the average woman in Africa must walk several hours to fetch water for her family? (Sen and Grown 1987). Since at least the 1980s, feminists have recognized the connections among development, equality, peace, and human rights. The Nairobi International Women's Conference took place in the midst of the crisis of Third World indebtedness and the implementation of austerity policies policed by the World Bank and the IMF (International Monetary Fund). Feminists were quick to see the links between economic distress, political instability, and violence against women. As Lucille Mair (U.N. Secretary General for the 1980 Copenhagen Conference) noted after Nairobi: