Women as Peacemakers

Abstract

In May 1919, 147 members of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) met in Zurich to discuss the issues of war, peace and international relations. Their meeting coincided with the publication of the post-war peace terms. As a result, WILPF was the first international association to outline its criticism of the Treaty of Versailles. The conference resolved that the Treaty would ‘create all over Europe discords and animosities, which can only lead to future wars’. A group of WILPF delegates travelled from Switzerland to France to lobby the male politicians at Versailles, attempting to make the voice of women heard at the peace table. This chapter will examine the proceedings of the Zurich Conference and WILPF’s attempts to shape the peace process after the Great War. Many members were active suffragists and were committed to the campaign for female citizenship. The association’s pacifism was linked to its feminism and concerns for social justice and equality. Moreover, WILPF had been an early advocate of a ‘Society of Nations’. In 1919 the association urged negotiators to incorporate its ‘Woman’s Charter’ within the Covenant of the League of Nations to secure equality in the post-war era. Although all positions within the League of Nations were open to men and women on equal terms, women remained marginalised in the international political sphere during the interwar years. This chapter will explore WILPF’s efforts to increase the representation of women in politics, particularly in relation to the issues of peace and international relations. In so doing, this chapter will highlight the significant role that women played in the peace negotiations and foundation of the League of Nations in 1919.