Women peacemakers born today

1826 Marie Goegg-Pouchoulin born Geneva, Switzerland (d. 1899). Pioneering Swiss feminist and pacifist. Co-founded the first international women's peace society, International League for Peace and Freedom, 1868; founded first international women’s association, Association internationale des Femmes, 1868.
1908 Maria Lavalle Urbina born Campeche, Mexico (d. 1996). Mexican lawyer and educator. Chair of UN Committee on Status of Women, 1963. First woman president of Mexican Senate, 1965.
1927 Maude Barlow born Toronto, Canada. Nonviolent internationalist. Co-founded nonviolent Council of Canadians, 1985; Blue Planet Project, 2001; World Future Council, 2004. Received Right Livelihood Award, 2005.
1959 Monika Hauser born Thal, St. Gall, Switzerland. Gynecologist. Founded Medica Mondiale to help women victims of war. Received Right Livelihood Award, 2008; named European of the year, 2011.
1959 Eren Keskin born Bursa, Turkey. Turkish human rights leader. Founded Legal Aid for Women who were raped by national security forces, 1997; Awarded Aachen Peace Prize 2004.
1974 Ruslana born Lviv, Ukraine. European pop star. UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, 2005. Member of Ukrainian Parliament, 2006-07. Led nonviolent protests in Orange Revolution, 2004, and Euromaidan protests, 2013-14.

Women's peacemaking on this day

1901 Emily Hobhouse's first visit to South African concentration camp Bloemfontein.
1906 Suffragist Dora Montefiore refused taxes and barricaded her home.
1973 Children's Defense Fund founded by Marian Wright Edelman.
1980 Northeast Womyn’s Alliance blockaded Seabrook nuclear plant.
1982 Greenham Women started first International Day of Disarmament: 70 British local actions.
1983 "Women All Out for Peace" 600 local British actions.
1983 Women’s Peace Camp opened at Soesterberg AFB, Netherlands.
1984 Largest protest of New Zealand women against nuclear tests, Auckland.
1991 First Australian conference on Social Defense held Ballina, NSW on initiative of Robyn Whyte, featuring nonviolent defense against aggression.
1995 International Women's Day for Peace and Disarmament first celebrated.
1995 Dominican nuns Ardeth Platte and Carol Gilbert arrested in nonviolent protest at Johns Hopkins University.
2011 Code Pink member Rae Abileah interrupted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress and was assaulted by the audience. She was later arrested at George Washington University Hospital.
2012 Women in Black of Madrid issued a communique against war. "We affirm our confidence in dialogue, justice and nonviolence as a path to understanding among peoples."
2015 Thirty women, including Gloria Steinem and Nobel laureates Leymah Gbowee and Mairead Maguire, crossed the Korean DMZ in an appeal for peace.