Betty A. Reardon born Rye, NY June 12, 1929. "The Mother of Peace Education." Pioneering peace educator. Co-founded International Institute of Peace Education, 1972, and Global Campaign for Peace Education, 1999. Awarded Sean MacBride Peace Prize, 2009.
"Sexism and the war system are two interdependent manifestations of a common problem: social violence." (Sexism and the War System, p. 5, 1996; photo sgi-usa.org)
Eleanor Florence Rathbone born South Kensington, London, England May 12, 1872 (d. 1946). Suffragist, feminist; Independent Member of British Parliament 1929-1946; tried to prevent war through League of Nations Union; book War Can Be Averted, 1938; opposed Italian invasion of Ethiopia and Hitler's reoccupation of Rhineland; early support for Jewish refugees and recognition of Holocaust; opposed genital mutilation in Kenya and supported Indian women's rights; protested violence in Ireland.
Jeannette Rankin born Missoula, MT June 11, 1880 (d. 1973). Only congressperson to vote against both World Wars.
"I love my country, but I cannot vote for war." (April 5, 1917)
"You can no more win a war than an earthquake." (Daniella Giosefffi, Women on War, p. 12, 1988; photo biography.com)
Rafiah Salim born Kuala Krai, Kelantan, Malaysia May 13, 1947. Lawyer; UN Assistant Secretary for Human Resources, 1998-2003; first woman university president, 2006.
On achieving gender parity: "[W]omen need to take some risks." (June 2000)
"Women make better leaders in non-profit organisations because of their natural humane traits." (The Star, April 19, 2012; photo ms.Wikipedia)
Pauline Roland born Falaise, Calvados, Normandy, France June 7, 1805 (d. 1851). French feminist historian; St. Simonian Socialist; pacifist. Spent seven months in prison for socialist agitation and opposition to Napoleon III coup, 1850; died due to suffering life sentence in Algerian prison, 1851.
“Sisters of America! Your socialist sisters of France are united with you in the vindication of the right of woman to civil and political equality.” (Jeanne Deroin, Pauline Roland, Paris, St. Lazare Prison, June 15, 1851; portrait accadde)
Arlette Ramaroson born Diego Suarez, Madagascar August 14, 1944. Appeals Judge International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda; Presiding Judge who found Ildephonse Hategekimana guilty of genocide; also Bisengimana.
"Murder as a crime against humanity. . . Rape as a crime against humanity. . . The Chamber sentenced Ildephonse Hategekimana to a single sentence of life imprisonment." (Dec. 6, 2010 Hategekimana verdict; photo ICTR)
Kathleen Rumpf born September 1, 1951. Catholic Worker peace activist. Arrested over 100 times; participated in anti-war activities with Berrigan family and Dorothy Day, 1978; joined Greenham Common, Seneca Peace Camp, 1983. Spent 18 months jail for 1983 Thanksgiving Day protest, hammering dents in B-2 bomber. Held 3-day vigil at Pentagon with sign: ”IT’S A SIN TO BUILD A NUCLEAR WEAPON,” 1983. Led women’s hokey-pokey dance on red line Nevada Test Site, 1989; 4-day fast protesting aid to El Salvador, 1989; Operation Desert Shield protest, 1990; trespass at federal building protest against Iraq War, 1992. Lived in cage in public protest of US jails. First federal prison term of nine months for spray-painting “School of Shame” at School of Americas entrance, 1998; killer drone protests, 2011.
On her prison experience: “Institutionalized torture of the powerless doesn’t happen in isolation. . . It evolves. Abu Ghraib came right out of our culture.” (Fort Worth Weekly, Aug. 2, 2006; photo peacecamperstory)
Laura Roskos born Wisconsin February 6, 1956. Professor of peace studies. Co-President, US WILPF, 2009-2014.
“If nonviolence is in the ascendency as the preferred means of resolving conflict then we have the know-how needed to further and consolidate that ascent. . . Women have the Power to Stop War; not just the war on women but stop war on all human beings, who wish to live a life of peace and freedom. Women are the majority of the world’s population. Women could end war if we and our allies owned our power as thought leaders, educators, workers, owners, parents, voters.” (World Peace Foundation, Jan. 16, 2014; photo Univ. N. Texas)
Meta Riseman (née Rosenberg) born Düsseldorf, Germany June 6, 1904 (d. 1994). American peace activist; Latin teacher. 66-year member of WILPF, 1928-94; President, Detroit Chapter, 1941; Michigan Chapter, 1943. As WILPF National President, opposed all atomic tests, 1955-57. Chaired national committee on human rights. Ran for Congress as Socialist, 1948. Protested Red-baiting.
On accusations of communism: “With these threats leveled at her mind, at the minds of her children and friends, as well as at her husband’s job—the very economic foundation of her existence—Mrs. Everybody will begin to ask herself: 'How will I be able to keep the home secure in the face of these serious threats to my way of life?’” (Nov. 1951, Kathleen Endres, “Women’s Periodicals”, p. 270; 1963 photo Swarthmore Peace Collection #D2)
Lou Rogers (née Annie Lucasta Rogers) born Patten, ME November 26, 1879 (d. 1952). American writer, cartoonist, and radio host. Feminist, pacifist, socialist, suffragist. Sailed on Ford’s peace ship to stop World War I, 1915; opposed war after US intervention.
“She will spike war’s gun.” (Sep. 17, 1912, Judge; photo Wikipedia)
Henrietta Rodman born Queens, NY August 28, 1877 (d. 1923). Educational reformer. Bohemian socialist; lectured and wrote about peace. Founded Feminist Alliance, 1914. Pacifist executive of Women’s Peace Party opposing World War I; Heterodoxy Club. Agitated for racial equality.
“Feminism is the attempt of women to grow up, to accept the responsibilities of life, to outgrow those characteristics of childhood—selfishness and cowardliness—that we require our boys to outgrow, but that we permit and by our social system encourage our girls to retain.” (1915, Jane Sochen, The New Feminism, p. 50; photo Wikipedia)
Deborah Rogers Willitts born Pembroke, MA August 28, 1788 (d. 1880). American educator. Headmistress of Quaker Nine Partners School; teacher of Lucretia Mott; Underground Railroad conductor. Founding member of New England Non-Resistance Society, world's first nonviolence organization, 1828.
Maria Rabaté (née Bernuchon) born Moncontour, Vienne, France July 3, 1900 (d. 1985). French Communist politician dedicated to postwar peace, opposing wars in Vietnam, Korea, Algiers, and to nuclear weapons.
“Women, concerned about the lives of their families, will subscribe to this program of common sense, justice and peace. End the Algerian war, take initiatives in favor of disarmament.” (1958 appeal at Referendum, bide et musique; photo assemble national)
Leah Rabin (née Schlossberg) born Königsberg, E. Prussia April 8, 1928 (d. 2000). Israeli peace advocate after murder of her Nobel laureate husband 1995.
"There is no alternative to the peace process. We are on the way, and these mines, these obstacles have to be overcome. The train of peace will go on and arrive at its destiny." ("Architects of Peace"; photo Santa Clara Univ.)
Jesselyn Radack (née Brown) born Washington DC December 12, 1970. American attorney and whistleblower. Took up the cause of American Taliban John Walker Lindh over concerns of illegal interrogation. Legal adviser to whistleblower Edward Snowden. National Security & Human Rights Director, Government Accountability Project, 2008-present.
On Edward Snowden: “I really think he’s had a wonderful effect for the US and for the world. . . Courage is contagious.” (channelnewsasia.com, Oct 12, 2013; photo Wikipedia)
Gabrielle Radziwill born Berlin, Prussia March 14, 1877 (d. 1968). Lithuanian internationalist. Pioneering woman in League of Nations Secretariat information section, connecting with women’s NGOs. Served in Russian Red Cross on Persian front during World War I.
“During recent years women’s organizations have contributed greatly to the forming of public opinion on international questions, and the fostering of international understanding.” (Ellen Warne, “Constance Duncan”, p. 293)
Leda Rafanelli born Pistoia, Tuscany, Italy September 13, 1880 (d. 1971). Italian poet, author and publisher; “The Gypsy anarchist”; individualist anarchist; convert to Sufi Islam; anti-militarist; anti-imperialist; opposed WWI; lover of pre-fascist Mussolini; rejected postwar colonial quest.
“War, we must fight! So said today the group of crowned heads. And then what? . . . then comes the pale horse of famine, the black horse of death . . . The eternal sources of life exhausted, the dispersion of all that is beauty and love. And this ruin must draft the people, the proletariat which will be the first to go and fight, the first to suffer the terrible consequences! No, no, no! Down with the war, reject this frightening vision of blood and death.” (1914, Mirella Scriboni, Down with the war!, p. 148, in Cretastorie, Anarchicini; photo wikipedia)
Ana Raffai born Zagreb, Yugoslavia October 11, 1959. Catholic theologian; Croatian peacemaker; nonviolence trainer at Center for Peace Studies. Co-organized ecumenical prayers for peace, 1994; Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.
"Peace begins when people begin to ask themselves what they themselves can do for peace. And. . . they begin to act. . . peace means to work for peace." (quote and photo World People's Blog, May 9, 2006)
Clara Ragaz (née Nadig) born Chur, Switzerland March 30, 1874 (d. 1957). Swiss peace leader; women’s rights advocate. Founding member WILPF, 1915; WILPF Swiss Vice-President, 1929-46.
“[T]he atomic bomb should show even to those most indifferent and to those most apathetic what war means, and make them understand that we are lost if we keep putting our trust in violence.” (Luxembourg, Aug. 1946, in Confortini, Intelligent Compassion, p. 39)
Dachine Rainer (née Sylvia Newman) born New York, NY January 13, 1921 (d. 2000). American-English anarchopacifist poet and writer follower of Tolstoi’s nonviolence; edited pacifist Retort magazine 1942-1951; book Prison Etiquette (1950) supported 6.000 imprisoned conscientious objectors.
“In a world of annihilating relativism, I have come to view support of any war, or capital punishment, or coercion of any sort—including 'volunteer' coercion—absolute evil.” (on Orwell, Retort, Spring 1947, p. 35; photo Penny’s poetry page)
Women in Peace
is dedicated to highlighting the achievements of extraordinary, peacemaking women from around the world.
