The women featured in this article will rarely if ever make the front pages of our newspapers much less will they be seen on prime time TV. It is not because they don’t deserve to be highly recognized, but to give these women their due credit is to go against the grain of the prevailing culture.

The prevailing culture (the rule of insane men) of domination and exploitation has as its hallmark the utter disrespect and contempt for the power of the feminine.

The success of emergent culture (the cultural dynamic) is directly related to the success of gender balance in all social arenas.

Gender balance means men and women on equal footing wherever and whenever.

It means an amendment to the constitution that would require one half of the members of the executive, judiciary and congressional branches be women.

Social equality and justice will be, but a pipe dream until women and the human values they represent most have equal representation where social leadership is concerned.

It is imperative that women understand how the prevailing culture uses women as instruments to further their warped agenda.

It is sad, but true, the invisible and insidious process of enculturation has conditioned the vast majority of women to accept the status quo and to support their own oppression and exploitation.

The Emergent-Culture News Website will do its part to expose the extent of the social condition I speak of, as well as offer solutions. Solutions typically become self evident once the source of the problem has been revealed.

The sheer magnitude of the problem is daunting and will require an equally momentous effort to alter the course of history from one of gender oppression to one of gender equality.

For my first article on the theme,

The Restoration of the Feminine

I have selected to highlight the lives of the twelve women who were awarded the Noble Peace prize, as well as many other prestigious forms of recognition, for their work on behalf of social justice.

The twelfth woman in my list did not win a Noble Peace prize, but her work won women the right to have a voice in the democratic process.

The twelve women in this article represent the true meaning of heroism.

My hope is that they will inspire you with their courage, initiative and perseverance. Each and every one of us is close to some cause that we could become a part of or support in some way.

I am sure there is something which you value enough to be worth defending. These twelve women represent the leading edge of emergent culture for what they have achieved and the values they espouse.

The organizations they have created and the values they have upheld merit our continued support.

The Twelve of the Most Remarkable Women of the 20th Century

Bertha von Suttner

[The first woman to win the Nobel Peace prize was the Austrian, Bertha von Suttner. She was awarded  the prize in 1905 for her contributions to the European peace movements.  Bertha von Suttner wrote the novel, Die Waffen nieder [Lay Down Your Arms], published late in 1889. A story whose heroine suffers all the horrors of war; the wars involved were those of the author’s own day]

[The newly acclaimed author went on to become an active leader in the peace movement, devoting a great part of her time, her energy, and her writing to the cause of peace - attending peace meetings and international congresses, helping to establish peace groups, recruiting members, lecturing, corresponding with people all over the world to promote peace projects.]

Jane Addams

[American, Jane Addams, founder  of  Hull House in Chicago won the Nobel Peace prize in 1931.   More than 100 years ago,  Jane Addams, worked with Chicago’s neediest families to identify the resources they needed to become full participants in their communities.  She was recognized for her efforts]

“Civilization is a method of living and an attitude of equal respect for all people.” –Jane Addams

The civilization that Jane Addams speaks of is the civilization that will emerge when emergent culture  becomes the prevailing culture of the world.

Emily Greene Balch

[American, Emily Greene Balch, a teacher who advised more than seven presidents and was one of the founders of the United Nations Declaration was awarded the prize 1946.

During  World War 1, she helped to found the  Women's International League for Peace and Freedom(WILPF) and campaigned against America's entry into the conflict.

One of the most disturbing consequences that resulted from her pacifist activities was her dismissal from  Wellesley Womens College.  She then went on to become an editor of The Nation, a well-known  news magazine, acted as secretary of the WILPF and did much work for the League of Nations.]

Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan Maguire

[Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan Maguire, two mothers from Ireland, were co-winners of the Peace prize in 1977 for the Irish peace movement to end the war in Ireland. Betty Williams, Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Ciaran McKeown founded The Community for Peace People.]

“Everyday there are people in our world that do absolutely amazing things. People of all ages are very capable of doing tremendous, courageous things in spite of their fear.” — Mairead Corrigan Maguire

“…we reject the way the world is at the moment and we don’t accept nuclear weapons, we don’t accept the fact that we train men and women to kill each other-we think this is immoral-and we want to disarm human hearts and human beings, one by one, country by country and that’s a big task. It’s going to take all of my lifetime and several more generations of young people. It’s going to take your generation too, to build a world — a nonviolent world — where people refuse to kill each other and human life is the ultimate value in our society and that’s a vision. I do believe that it is something that is in the hearts of men and women and we’ve just got to get it out there into our politics in the world and change it that way.”–Mairead Corrigan Maguire

Mother Teresa

[Mother Teresa, the Christian nun from Albania,  who for 45 years worked among the most destitute of India's poor won the Nobel Peace prize in 1979.

Mother Teresa's work has been recognised and acclaimed throughout the world and she has received a number of awards and distinctions, including the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize (1971) and the Nehru Prize for her promotion of international peace and understanding (1972). She also received the Balzan Prize (1979) and the Templeton and Magsaysay awards

Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity continued to expand, and at the time of her death it was operating 610 missions in 123 countries, including hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counseling programs, orphanages, and schools.]

Aung San Suu Kyi

[Burmese national Aung San Suu Kyi, won the Nobel in 1991. Suu Kyi also won the Rafto Prize and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990.  In 1992 she was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru peace prize by the Government of India for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a military dictatorship. She is currently under detention and has been since 1990  when the Burmese dicatatorship unjustly arrested her.  According to the results of the 1990 general election, Suu Kyi earned the right to be Prime Minister, after winning the National League for Democracy party, but her detention by the military dictatorship has prevented her from assuming that role. She is now in her 18th year of incarceration.]

Rigoberta Menchu

[Guatemalan,  Rigoberta Menchu won the Nobel Peace prize in 1994 for her actions to protect the rights of the indigenous people of Guatemala.   In 1979, her brother was arrested, tortured and killed by the army. The following year, her father was killed when security forces in the capital stormed the Spanish Embassy where he and some other peasants were staying. Shortly afterwards, her mother also died after having been arrested, tortured and raped.

Rigoberta became increasingly active in the Committee for Campesino Unity, Guatemala) CUC, and taught herself Spanish as well as other Mayan languages. In 1980, she figured prominently in a strike the CUC organized for better conditions for farm workers on the Pacific coast, and on May 1, 1981, she was active in large demonstrations in the capital. She joined the radical 31st of January Popular Front, in which her contribution chiefly consisted of educating the Indian peasant population in resistance to massive military oppression.] Military oppression of behalf of American Business interests.

Jody Williams

[American, Jody Williams was recognized, along with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), with the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for her role as the founding coordinator of the ICBL, which was formally launched by six non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in October of 1992. As its coordinator, Williams oversaw the growth of the ICBL to more than 1,300 NGOs in over eighty-five countries and served as a chief strategist and spokesperson for the campaign.

Working in an unprecedented cooperative effort with governments, UN bodies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the ICBL achieved its goal of an international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines during the diplomatic conference held in Oslo in September 1997.

International organizer and activist, teacher and writer, Williams is an eloquent speaker on human security, on human rights and international law, on the role of civil society in international diplomacy, and on individual initiative in bringing about social change.

Shirin Ebadi

[ Iranian, Shirin Ebadi won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her work promoting the rights of women, children and prisoners in her home country of Iran. Ebadi studied at Tehran University, graduating with a law degree in 1971, and was named Iran's first-ever female judge in 1975. However, she and other female judges were forced to resign when Iran became an Islamic Republic after the revolution of 1979.

After years of being denied a law license, Ebadi set up her own legal practice in 1992 and quickly developed a special interest in the rights of women, journalists, and others who lacked power under the Iranian regime. She co-founded the Association for Support of Children's Rights (in 1995) and the Human Rights Defense Center (in 2001) and became known outside Iran for her clashes with the country's ruling clerics.

The 2003 announcement from the Nobel Committee praised Ebadi for "her efforts for democracy and human rights" and said "She has stood up as a sound professional, a courageous person, and has never heeded the threats to her own safety." Her books include The Rights of the ChildTradition and Modernity (1995) and The Rights of Women (2002). (1993),]

Wangari Maathai

[Kenyan Wangari Maathai, also known  as Mama Miti or  Mother of the Trees won the Nobel Peace prize in 2004. In 1977, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, a grassroots environmental non-governmental organization, which has now planted over 40 million trees across Kenya to prevent soil erosion.  Since then, she has been increasingly active on both environmental and women's issues.

In 2006, Maathai was one of the founders of The Nobel Women's Initiative along with sister Nobel Peace Laureates Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan Maguire. Six women representing North America and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa decided to bring together their experiences in a united effort for peace with justice and equality. It is the goal of the Nobel Women's Initiative to help strengthen work being done in support of women's rights around the world.]

Susan B. Anthony

[In 1872, Susan B. Anthony demanded that women be given the same civil and political rights that had been extended to black males under the 14th and 15th amendments. Thus, she led a group of women to the polls in Rochester to test the right of women to vote. She was arrested two weeks later and while awaiting trial, engaged in highly publicized lecture tours and in March 1873, she tried to vote again in city elections. After being tried and convicted of violating the voting laws, Susan succeeded in her refusal to pay the fine. From then on she campaigned endlessly for a federal woman suffrage amendment through the National Woman Suffrage Association (1869-90) and the National American Woman Suffrage Association (1890-1906) and by lecturing throughout the country.

Anthony, along with Stanton and Matilda Joslyn Gage published the History of  Woman Suffrage 4 vol (1881-1902) In 1888 she organized the International Council of Women and in 1904 the International Woman Suffrage Alliance. Although Anthony did not live to see the consummation of her efforts to win the right to vote for women, the establishment of the 19th amendment is deeply owed to her efforts.]

Copyright © 2009 Emergent-Culture. All rights reserved. Emergent-Culture shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Emergent-Culture and the Emergent-Culture logo are registered trademarks of the Emergent-Culture News Website and Blog.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

 Print This Post