ABOUT US

Our Aims

Women to Women for Peace is a network of women whose work is about bridge-building between people from countries which have contrasting and often conflicting, political, philosophical, cultural and religious approaches.

Trust and understanding are fundamental conditions for peace and disarmament so that all children may grow up in a world free from the threat of war. We develop and maintain friendships across cultural divides, creating opportunities for communication and educational exchanges.

We wish to learn about the different values and attitudes women hold in other countries and believe that by building friendship between women, we may learn to understand one another and value our differences. We arrange reciprocal visits between people from the United Kingdom and around the world.

Our Principles

1) Women to Women for Peace questions war as a means of resolving conflict and supports peacemakers.
2) We foster personal contacts among women in order to promote intercultural understanding and to question stereotypes and prejudices.
3) We promote education for and about womens' role in peace, including the sharing of conflict resolution skills.

Our History

We began as Mothers for Peace in 1981 when four mothers travelled to the Soviet Union and four to the USA with this message of peace:

These women made their journey as a result of the inspiration and initiative of our founders, Lucy Behenna and Marion Mansergh, neither of them mothers themselves and both in their eighties at the time. They were convinced that if, in the midst of the Cold War and the escalating Arms Race, mothers from the 'superpowers' could meet and – whilst acknowledging their differences – become aware of their common wish for a safe and secure future for all children, the barriers of fear and mistrust would begin to fall. In 1982 a return visit by Soviet and American women took place so successfully that in the following year a co-ordinator was appointed to further the work of bridge building by promoting contacts with mothers world-wide and by cultivating a wide base of support in the UK.

Since then we have visited many countries, including Cuba, Romania, U.S.A., Northern Ireland and Ukraine and as a result of these visits several other groups have been established. We have also helped to develop conflict resolution training in workshops shared with women from other countries. In 2002 we celebrated our 21st birthday, which was marked by putting a seat in Tavistock Square, bearing the message:

At the AGM in 2002 our name was changed to Women to Women for Peace.

Our Structure

We are a non-religious and non-party-political organisation, with no permanent source of funding. We are financed by the subscriptions, donations and fundraising efforts of our members and supporters and by grants made by various trusts for specific projects. Members are kept in touch and informed by newsletter three times a year. We also send out our international newsletter three times a year, which keeps us in contact with women all over the world.

Two business meetings are held during the year as well as an AGM in the autumn at a variety of locations. Members are welcome to attend and participate in all these meetings. An annual residential weekend is a further opportunity to meet other members. We work in non-hierarchical ways, reaching agreement by consensus.

We welcome and acknowledge support from women and men and our mailing list is open to all.

Visits

Women to Women for Peace have made visits to The Hague Peace Conference (1999), Ukraine, Cuba, USSR (3 visits to St. Petersburg, for Conflict Resolution Workshops), Romania, Israel & Palestine, Albania, U.S.A., and Northern Ireland.

We have also hosted women from the U.S.A., Northern Ireland, Ukraine, Russia, Siberia, Cuba, Romania, Albania and Japan.
We try to make reciprocal visits at least annually.
Additionally many members have been involved in private visits.

The Peace Quilt and Wall Hanging

Our quilt depicting a bridge and including work by women from many countries was completed in 1991 to celebrate and commemorate ten years of our work in international peace-making. The quilt is on permanent loan to the Bradford Peace Museum. A wall-hanging was completed in 2005 to celebrate our 21st anniversary.

The Banner made by Joy Uglow