November 7

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Women peacemakers born today

  • 1819 Elizabeth Neall Gay born Bucks County, PA (d. 1907). Quaker; pacifist; abolitionist. Delegate to first World's Anti-Slavery Convention, where women were denied a say, London, 1840.

  • 1850 Johanna Waszklewicz-van Schilfgaarde born Netherlands (d. 1937). Dutch peace organizer; founded Alliance of Women for peace, 1899; opposed Boer War.

  • 1878 Margaret E. Cousins born Boyle, Ireland (d. 1954). British feminist and radical suffragist leader; spent one month in prison, 1910; anti-imperialist; founded and led two Indian women's organizations; first female magistrate in India; arrested in India for civil disobedience, 1933.

  • 1917 Helen Suzman born Germiston, Transvaal, South Africa (d. 2009). Apartheid opponent; recipient of UN Human Rights Prize, 1978; member of parliament, 1953-89.

  • 1948 Mariclaire Acosta. Mexican human rights advocate. Representative, Amnesty International, Mexico section, 1977-84. Founding director, Mexican Academy of Human Rights, 1984-89. Director, Freedom House Mexico, 2011-present.

  • 1949 Judi Bari born Baltimore, MD (d. 1997). Environmental activist; labor organizer; ecofeminist; leader of Earth First!, 1979; nearly killed by bomb in nonviolent Redwood Summer, 1990.

  • 1989 Nadezhda Tolokonnikova born Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Member of punk protest collective Pussy Riot. Performed anti-Putin protest at Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Moscow, 2012; arrested and sentenced to 2-year prison term.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1916 Pacifist Jeannette Rankin elected to House of Representatives for the state of Montana, becoming the first woman elected to the US Congress.

  • 1921 Kaji Yashima presented peace petition of 10,000 Japanese women to Pres. Harding for Washington disarmament conference. "Japanese women want education not battleships."

  • 1925 Mirabehn joined Gandhi's Ashram.

  • 2005 Breasts Not Bombs demonstration at Sacramento state capitol building; Sherry Glaser & Renee Love arrested.

  • 2008: New York premiere of documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell, chronicling women’s successful peacemaking efforts in Africa.