Women have a strong desire for relational connections. Relationships between women can be especially enriching, but when conflict arises, they also can be especially damaging. Too many women approach conflict as if they were unbelievers-with gossip, spiteful actions, bitterness, and even hatred. In Peacemaking Women, Tara Klena Barthel and Judy Dabler offer a meaningful, lasting message to lead women out of conflict to a state of peace where they can live as representatives of Christ to one another and well as unbelievers. With advice that is firmly rooted in Scripture, the authors bring sound, practical help for women who want to know what the Bible says about conflict resolution and how to achieve peace in their relationships with God, self, and others.

In the early 2000s, Liberian women wearing wrap skirts and white T-shirts, shouting: ‘We want peace, no more war’, attracted international attention. After almost fifteen years of civil war, the enduring active, multifaceted, and non-violent campaigning for peace by women’s organisations contributed to the end of the fighting and the signing of a peace agreement between the warring factions. Although it is widely assumed that women’s inclusion in peace processes yields greater attention to women’s issues and needs in the aftermath of a conflict, this is only partly the case in Liberia. Thus, this analysis looks beyond the extraordinary commitment by women in Liberia and deals with the questions to what extent their role in the peace process has contributed to gender-sensitive outcomes in post-conflict Liberian society and why greater gender sensitivity was not achieved. By focusing on manifestations of patterns of masculinity in the public and private spheres, Anne Theobald identifies factors at different levels of analysis within different time frames that elucidate the unexpected outcome. Not only does this provide for a more encompassing understanding of dynamics of gender relations and context-specific variables impeding gender sensitivity in post-conflict settings, but it also helps to refine prevailing theoretical approaches on gender in peacemaking and peacebuilding and to develop more holistic, context-specific, and efficient policy approaches, which can effectively lead to gender-sensitive peace.

Originally published in 1987, this book includes contributions from scholars and peace activists in the United States, Britain, Canada, Belgium, and the German Democratic Republic. These papers present, from a number of different perspectives, the experiences of women in relation to peace in North America, Japan and Europe. The theoretical diversity and historical breadth of the collection provide a balanced and enlightened view of women and peace movements. The papers range from an important theoretical contribution by the American scholar Berenice Carroll to one on the peace movement in Japan after Hiroshima and Nagasaki by Setsuko Thurlow, a Japanese-Canadian and a Hiroshima survivor. The papers are divided into theoretical, historical and practical approaches and the main part of the book is concerned with historical accounts of women’s involvement in peace movements. An important issue covered is the contradiction that arises between feminist and pacifist ideals in peace movements. Literary figures such as Vera Brittain and Charlotte Perkins Gilman are also discussed. This book will have multi-disciplinary appeal to students and academics in women’s studies, peace studies, sociology and history. It will also be of interest to activists in the women’s and peace movements.

In All Her Paths Are Peace, Michael Henderson portrays maverick women whose daring acts have made a difference. He relates their global and gripping stories, depicting the practical yet often risky steps each woman took to resolve the conflict facing her. These innovators come from diverse lifestyles, but as they choose their separate paths, they all light the way to peace.

This book is an examination of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through psychoanalytic, sociopsychological, and nationalistic lenses, highlighting the successes and the hurdles faced by one organization, Healing Across the Divides (HATD), in its mission to measurably improve health in marginalized populations of both Israelis and Palestinians. Peace Building through Women’s Health begins with a summary of the "peace building through health" field and a psychoanalytic, sociopsychological examination of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After a series of informative case studies, the book concludes with an analysis of how this organization has evolved its "peace building through health" approach over the fifteen years since its founding. Working with community groups, HATD has measurably improved the lives of more than 200,000 marginalized Israelis and Palestinians. In the process, it also improves the effectiveness of the community group grantees, by offering experienced management consulting and by requiring rigorous ongoing self-assessment on the part of the groups. IHATD hopes that, in the long term, some of the community leaders it supports will be tomorrow’s political leaders. As these leaders strengthen their own capabilities, they will be able to increasingly contribute to securing peace in one of the longest running conflicts in the world today. Peace Building through Women’s Health will be invaluable to public and mental health professionals interested in international health, peace and conflict studies, and conflict resolution.