Champions for Peace: Women Winners of the Nobel Peace Prize

Written in an accessible and vivacious style, this book brings hope. Scholar and activist (not an oxymoron), Judith Stiehm, shares her detailed research into the lives and work of the very few women (12) who have received the Nobel Peace Prize. As a scholar, she inquires about the influence of their social economic status (class, education, race, religion) on their ability to gain international recognition for peace. She finds what they share is not at all their social backgrounds, but rather their goal: recognition for justice and peace - not for their personal achievements. The path they have chosen is hard; all were repeatedly ridiculed; several spent time in jail. In explaining why and how they suffered, Stiehm increases our understanding (p. 33) of William James who argued that working for peace required "the moral equivalent of war" (sacrifice, solidarity, loyalty). In analyzing their difficult journeys, Stiehm finds their voices agreeing that peace cannot come without justice. Several awards make this link quite explicit, for the women did not work directly for peace (Aung San Suu Kyi, 1991: Shirin Ebadi, 2003; Wangari Maathai, 2004). Yet the author teaches us that these winners of a peace prize, from Bertha von Suttner (1905) onward, always linked justice with peace. Stiehm reveals portraits of the women's lives which show them all quite idealist, but very realist. She offers details about their work to show how they sustained this seeming contradiction. Most important is the analysis of how the women built networks and organizations to empower others, and then often, stepping aside as the work continued. They were not individual heroes; their goals depended on social organization. They would very much agree with a fellow laureate, who protested that too much attention was given to his person: Nelson Mandela had to repeatedly admonish the international press that he did not liberate himself from prison; the organized people did. On the back cover of the book, Barbara Ehrenreich, asks that you give this book to your daughters. Yes, but for the above reasons, you need to give the book especially to your sons. The book is highly appropriate for the classroom, from high school to graduate classes. How possible? For the younger students, it will inspire them while showing the sacrifices for peace. For the more analytical, this political theorist raises all the important questions that can be debated: Must a peace maker be a pacifist? What is conscientious non-violence vs. pragmatic nonviolence? How does peace relate to development? What is the interaction between leadership and organizational power? The book shows that each one of us can join the debates, from youth to elders, and begin to commit to peace (time, energy, taxes, honor) more than to war.

As Judith Hicks Stiehm beautifully depicts in this telling of the contributions of 12 women Nobel Peace Laureates, women are creative thinkers and leaders. And as she also points out, war is a phenomenon that is associated with men. As an evolutionary biologist I've written an exploration for why women, as a group, are biologically less inclined to use physical violence to resolve conflicts ("Women, Power, and the Biology of Peace." Judith L. Hand (not Latta)) and why women are better natural negotiators. I also argue in that book and another ("A Future Without War") why it is that the empowerment of women across the globe is the critical catalyst needed to actually put an end to wars. Women in New Zealand were the first given the vote--real political power--roughly 100 years ago. Women are becoming increasingly active in government and conflict negotiations. The women described by Stiehm are the vanguard of a flood of women who will be working to change history in a quiet revolution in exactly the way Nobel hoped would happen. Her book is an inspiration for us all, women and men of good will, because it shows us women from across the globe and all walks of life stepping up and taking their share of the responsibility for how we run our world.

Since the Nobel Peace Prize was first awarded in 1903, it has been given to only 12 women. Judith Hicks Stiehm presents the life story of each of these remarkable people, women from dramatically different backgrounds all around the globe. The stories, so cleary and compellingly told, are fascinating page-turners in themselves. And together they convey the essential point that anyone, anywhere, can work for peace, doing small things that may in fact add up to big changes to benefit the neighborhood, the locality, the region--even the world. For every reader (woman or man) who's felt disheartened and powerless in recent years, this book is both a roadmap and a real life inspiration--and the perfect gift for any young woman wondering what to do with her life.

In CHAMPIONS FOR PEACE Judith Hicks Stiehm has written in lively, highly readable prose the life stories of the twelve women who have won the Nobel Peace Prize. Beyond that, the book dramatizes the effect one person--you, perhaps?--can have. On the last page, she writes: "Each of us has different circumstances and different resources; nevertheless, each of us has the capacity to act." (p. 224) What is most striking here is the variety in the women's origins and lives. A world map shows that three are from the United States--Jane Addams, Emily Greene Balch, and Jody Williams. From Guatemala, Rigoberta Menchu Tum. Ireland, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan. Sweden, Alva Myrdal. Austria, Bertha von Suttner. Iran, Shirin Ebadi. Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi. Macedonia, Mother Teresa. Kenya, Wangari Muta Maathai. As the author tells us: "They have been young, middleaged, and old. They have been of titled nobility, and they have been subsistence farmers. They have held doctorates, and they have also been barely schooled." (p. ix) What did these women have in common? Stiehm says, "a vision, a commitment to action, and a willingness to persevere in the face of criticism and, in some cases, imprisonment." (p ix) This book itself has required a strong commitment on the part of the author to do the research and writing it required, and the accomplishment here reflects Stiehm's own extraordinary wisdom and qualifications as a writer, political scientist, and advocate. The preface and conclusion are especially helpful, as is the epilogue with its questions for U. S. readers and non-U.S. readers to think about. While the life stories are those of women, the book is for and about men also: Stiehm lists the organizations and the men who have won the prize. She touches on the nature of wars and violence, arguing that war is violence done mostly by men to men--and she argues strenuously that the behavior of men must change: "After all, most violence is done by men, and particularly at the direction of governments. . . . This means that it is important to study the psychology and interests of the men who authorize and exercise violence." (p 224) I'd like to see this important book in every home, every school and public library, in English where that is spoken, and in appropriate translations elsewhere. The book is easy to read and the many photographs of the women add to its appeal and to the understanding it brings.