Women & War
September 3, 2010
by Lori Sokol
|The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
On Tuesday, August 31, after more than seven years of war, President Obama officially ended the United States’ combat mission in Iraq, enabling all remaining American troops to arrive home safely by the end of next year. It is something to celebrate, the saving of lives, except for the 4,746 deceased American combatants for whom this decision has come too late.
How do we learn from this experience of the wasted and lost lives of mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, daughters and sons, in a war where questions still remain as to why it was ever launched in the first place? Simple…ask a woman. In a recent article published in The Pasadena Weekly, entitled, ‘Want to End War? Give Women Leaders a Chance,’ the writer recounts the tale of Lysistrata, the ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, where women demand peace by withholding sex until their husbands agree to stop the Peloponnesian war.
But women’s long-standing battle against war is anything but mythological. Recently, in Liberia, women peacefully lined the streets sitting through rain, blazing sun, and wind, often with bullets and air raids whirling around them, holding true to one simple message: ‘We Want Peace; No More War.’ This grassroots campaign conducted in the midst of their country’s brutal civil war resulted in not only putting an end to war, but in the election of the country’s first female president. “We offered a rehumanizing approach,” explains Leymah Gbowee, executive director of the Women Peace and Security Network Africa. “We engaged in real relationships with the child soldiers. We saw them not as perpetrators of violence, but as our sons and daughters.”
It was therefore the result of their ability to humanize all people that the very idea of even one more death became, for these women, incomprehensible.
And who would understand this better than women who bear witness to more wars than any other…female journalists. Christiane Amanpour, for example, the former chief international correspondent at CNN who covered everything from the Persian Gulf War, to the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, to the war in Kosovo (where she was threatened with death), could no longer justify putting herself in life-threatening situations once she became a mother. Motherhood clearly made Amanpour more conscious of the risks of her job, and the value of her life and that of her child.
But it doesn’t require a woman to bear children to firmly grasp the sacredness of life. While ABC News recently reported that a London-based official inquiry into the Iraq war may have ignored the deaths of an estimated 100,000 Iraqi civilians who have been killed since the 2003 invasion, an article in Womens eNews recounts how female journalists have increasingly focused on the toll war takes on civilian populations—primarily the women and children–who have little or no say in the decisions that lead to mass killing.
And although women still may only make up an average of 18% of leadership positions across the U.S., it is not surprising that there is at least one area in which women are starting to pull ahead: nuclear diplomacy. In fact, when the U.S. recently engaged in negotiations with Russia on a new nuclear treaty, one of the Russian delegates expressed surprise at the unique makeup of the U.S. Delegation. Noting the unusually large number of female delegates in the room, he asked, “How come you’ve got so many women?”
Perhaps the best woman to answer this question is none other than The Rt. Hon. Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, a country that opposed and officially condemned the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. In her address to the Leaders Global Security Summit in 2007, Clark said, “Women resort to jaw-jaw rather than war-war.”
Can we talk?
nice reminder of lystrata’s strategy, which was winning then. imagine today, where we have been brainwashed about sex. the neccessity of sex of healthyness, the rat race for the few decent men, because without them according to the media ‘where would be ‘. probably stranded and entirely lost. i’d love to see women as a class withhodling sex until all wars are canceled, especially the ones on our sex, the rape.
with the other wars. female politicians have a long history to be mostly on the side against wars. our battle for the ballot was one of the first non militant strategies.
but we have also countries who had little defense to be overrun by mighty neighbors for more than a thousand years. there is a theory that this might be the reason when matriarchy ended.
I think the solution to war is Matriarchy, but everywhere has to be a Matriarchy. Ultimately there is hardly a point to war. It seems to be a male invention and a male necessity. It’s just really dumb. all arguments for war “lack of resources” fail. It’s some kind of vanity. but can we sit here and stand pain, suffering and misery everytime a male feels he needs to get revenge, control women, rape women, right a wrong or live out his fantasy? There have been women in patriarchy’s that have waged war, but only because men are so willing and eager to do it. In a Matriarchy the possibility of dominating women is gone completely, there would be no apparent lack of resources because women wouldn’t dominate resources but instead create them..i mean..it’s just men the problem. You don’t need to figure out why to figure out that it’s a male thing. I totally agree.
Very nice article Lori. I have been thinking a lot about the difference women leaders can bring to the world. Too often in large corporations where I consult I see women conforming to male behaviour in order to progress, which really defeats the purpose of having more women at the top. Your examples of women making a stand against war is very inspiring.
Lori
I want to hear from more women writers like you who speak less politically and more personally.
I love the reminder that women have been waging their own movement against war forever.
The acknowledgement of the women in Liberia who used peaceful insistence to not only end a war but to help facilitate Africa’s first women President is an example of how powerful women are when they make their minds up to begin or end something. Learn more about the women of Liberia in the video “Pray the Devil Back to Hell”
As a mother two wonderful sons I say our children are the first place for teaching the power of a peaceful agenda.
at some point I wonder if it wouldn’t be possible for women to stand up against men, not by witholding sex, but by withholding marriage and boy babies. We have choice.
Nice piece on peace
For more on Leymah Gbowee including a short, thought-provoking clip on what she thinks Michelle Obama might do to quickly and effectively create change in Africa, see here: http://www.amazingwomenrock.co.....beria.html
For the awe-inspiring story of one of the most amazing war zone journalists ever (and one of my top ten personal heroines), see here: http://www.amazingwomenrock.co.....woman.html
@Pamela: mothers of sons are the key to a better future. I hope you are raising them to be feminists
As a Feminist, I wouldn’t even raise a son;period. You can’t stop society.
I would not get pregnant with a boy child. I would not deliver a pregnancy of a boy child, and I certainly would not raise a boy child. They grow up to be men, and every single one of them was raised by a woman,and every single one of them is a disappointment. Every single one rapes, either physically rapes, or otherwise rapes women. Every single one participates in a male network and prevents women from autonomy. Every single one wears a suit. Every single one is a joke. He has maybe 2/3rd a human genome. It’s not right to make a sentient living being a male. At some point that is the ultimate humanity is to just stop having them. It’s almost a form of female violence through males to have sons. They want power through them.
Kluku,
As the author of the piece, and as the mother of a son, I must respond to your comment above. Firstly, my son is a sensitive, caring and kind human being. So, as you see, every single one of them is (not) a disappointment. Further, it is stereotypical and hateful thinking like yours that females have been subjected to for far too long by our paternalistic society. Surely, as a member of a marginalized group (women), the last thing we should do is attack others similar to the way we have been attacked.
I could go on and on about this, but suffice it to say that I do not believe “It’s almost a form of female violence through males to have sons,” and I hope this type of ignorant thinking is yours alone, or all we (women and men) are all in a lot of trouble.
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