The Feminist Pacifism of Emily Greene Balch, Nobel Peace Laureate

Abstract

Emily Greene Balch (1867–1961) was an international peace activist and social reformer who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946 for a lifetime of continuous work, primarily with women's organizations, for the cause of justice. Balch was a founding member of the Women's International League of Peace and Freedom and worked in an unofficial capacity with both the League of Nations and the United Nations. This essay brings Balch's work as a feminist peace activist into dialogue with contemporary issues, illustrating that the women of the early twentieth century faced many of the same issues that feminist peace activists continue to face today.