Women and war

Our good friend Ingrid is at The Hague this weekend at the amazing WILPF 2015 Conference, where hundreds of women peacemakers from all over the world will come together to establish a new peace agenda for the 21st century.

'100 years after over 1300 of WILPF’s founding women first came together in The Hague in protest of World War I, we still live in a world where women’s voices and experiences are excluded, bringing continued violence and war. We know now what we knew then, that only when we analyse conflict from a gender perspective, integrating disarmament, human rights, the environment, social justice, and the women, peace and security agenda holistically will we be able to eradicate the root causes of conflict.'

Many of the amazing women we research for England, Arise! would have been very aware of the first conference, where women from across the globe took personal risks to travel to the Hague during an war in the name of peace. 

In our play, we made much of the working men and their Internationalist views on the labour force, refusing to fight against their fellow working man wherever he may be. 

It was the women, though, who came together under a doctrine of 'love', and pedged to work together, despite the barriers they faced, towards a world peace. It's not something you learn about in school, it's not the first thing that comes to mind when we think about that World War, but it's an event which was a physical demonstration of solidarity and unity. 

I hope Ingrid has an amazing time, that she meets some inspiring and fantastic women of our world, and that we can all benefit from this present day Call to (dis)Arms from our sisters. 

Follow Dr I.E.Sharp on twitter @IngridESharp