The centrality of women’s work for peace in the thinking, actions, and writings of Elise Boulding

Abstract

This article starts with a personal introduction from a peace researcher who has not only been inspired by the works of Elise Boulding but who over the years had developed a personal relationship to her. It describes how Elise Boulding made it her concern to raise up the voices of the powerless and also to show the importance of the accomplishments, writings, and thinking of women. In her work, Elise Boulding showed that women peace researchers often had other priorities in peace research than male peace researchers. The women wanted more research on nonviolence, on peaceful ways of settling conflicts, and found that there was too much mindless weapon counting in peace research. The author goes on to describe the ideas and work of Elise Boulding in the field of peace education. She seemed skeptical of western schooling and its possibility of promoting peace education. Elise Boulding was concerned with the peace education going on among groups seen as powerless by the patriarchal society.