Elizabeth G. Ferris. Women as Peacemaker in Women, Violence and Nonviolent Change. Aruna Gnanadason, Musimbi R., A. Kanyoro and Lucia Ann McSpadden (eds.). Geneva : WCC, 2005

New words or concepts 

Words   :           war-mongering men (p 6), reprisal (p 9),  inextricably (p 9), endeavours (p 14)

Concepts :         men tend to have “ethic of justice” and women tend to have “ethic of care”.

It said that women tend to be more “peace-loving” than men. It is because women always

consider having a maternal thinking, and being seen as a peace maker. These ideas came from the facts that women are giving birth, nursing babies, as care-givers responsible for children and family, as life giver, feeding their family, doing kin works, teaching the very young, tending the frail elderly, nuturing, building relationships, resolving conflicts within families, and reconsiling differences within families. So it is said that women are prone to be non-violence person. However, although it said that it is not institutionalized, there have always been violent women but it seems very rare cases. As a peace-makers, women that acknowledged from their maternal thinking can organize movements on issues of peace such as on issues of economic survival, nationalist or racial/etnics issues, humanistic and nurturing and women’s rights.

Discussions and concerns to domestic violence (particularly when violence took place against women) are as important as to violence against women during war time.

Women can be as peacemaker and can make significant changes within their social context. Although usually in general, women’s role in community group such as churches being recognized as volunteers or charitable actions, women can do more. Women’s works for peace can be recognized in doing some actions concerning human life issues (especially for children, for themselves and other women), in using nonviolent techniques, acts and strategies to make and maintaining peaceful life, also for their rights. Women can do more like organizing nonviolent movement to get their rights, or in political struggle in their nation, struggle in environmental issues, etc.

Men and women are not born with violence behaviour and deep inside them tend to have peaceful mind and behavior, however we are created in God’s image. There are many reasons can change and shaped men and women become violence, such as how they were educated by their family, life experiences, social influences, and their recents situation and conditions. Men and women can be as peacemaker by having same understanding about how important to life in peace.

New, helpful, or compelling insights. 

A new compelling insights for me is the concept of men tend to have “ethic of justice” and women tend to have “ethic of care”

Two discussion questions based on this reading :

What is the correlation between domestic violence and violence against women during war time?

What kind of roles that women can participate doing peace-building within their community (i.e. within their society which has inter-religious conflict inside)?

War-mongering men

·         Monger – dealer in tricked-out wares, a dealer or trader usually in compounds (like fishmonger), sometimes used figuratively and derogatorily (to derogate : to take away from something os as to impair it, to lower oneself / lose face, lower in esteem), chiefly, to promote, to disseminate – often in a way that is regarded as deceptive or self serving.So “war-mongering men” means ... men who promote war

·         Reprisal

·         To take back, to forcible seizure of property or subjects in retaliaton for an injury inflicted b another country, to act or practice of using force, short of war against another nation to obtain redress of grievances, injury done or the doing of injury.

·         Inextricably (adv)

·         Impossible to escape from, impossible to disentangle or separate

·         Endeavours

·         Duty, to try to do, to make an earnest attempt, strive, or effort