Women Conscientious Objectors — An Anthology

Conscientious objectors are generally seen as male — as are soldiers. This book breaks with this assump­tion. Women conscientiously object to mili­tary service and militarism. Not only in countries which conscript women — such as Eritrea and Israel — but also in coun­tries without conscription of women. In doing so, they redefine antimilitarism from a feminist perspec­tive, opposing not only militarism, but also a form of antimilitarism that creates the male conscientious objector as the ‘hero’ of antimilitarist struggle.

This anthology includes contributions by women conscientious objectors and activists from Britain, Colombia, Eritrea, Israel, Paraguay, South Korea, Turkey, and the USA, plus documents and state­ments.

“For what we see here is women, at different moments, in one country after another, creating for themselves the concept, analysis and practice of a distinctive feminist antimilitarism.”
Cynthia Cockburn, Women in Black London

"Their radical retheorising of militarism with a feminist perspective reminds us of the centrality of women in processes of militarisation, as well as their power to turn militarisation processes on their head and to contribute to radical reimaginings of a world where violence, war, patriarchy, sexism, heterosexism, and other form of dominations are not taken for granted.”
Ayse Gul Altinay, Sabanci Univeristy, Turkey

Published by: War Resisters' International
Edited by Ellen Elster and Majken Jul Sørensen
Preface by Cynthia Enloe
ISBN 978-0-903517-22-5. 152 pages.
Publication date: April 2010
Orders: £8.00 plus postage

Order at WRI's webshop: http://wri-irg.org/webshop