- Entry type: Organisation
- Entry ID: AWE1135
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom – Victorian Branch
(From 1915 – )- Occupation Social action organisation
Summary
The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (Victorian Branch) has its origins with the formation of the Sisterhood of International Peace in Melbourne in 1915. When the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) was founded in Zurich in 1919, the Sisterhood reconstituted itself as the Australian section of this new organisation. The Victorian branch formally separated from the Australian Section in 1920, although considerable overlap continued between these two bodies.
Aside from campaigning for international disarmament and an end to all war, WILPF has taken action on a wide range of social justice issues.
Details
The Sisterhood of International Peace was formed in Melbourne in 1915 ‘To promote mutual knowledge of each other by the women of different nations, goodwill and friendship, to study the causes – economics and moral – of war; and by every means in their power to bring the humanising influence of women to bear on the abolition of war, and the substitution of international justice and arbitration for irrational methods of violence.’ The president was Lucy Paling, the secretary Janet Strong and corresponding secretaries Mabel Drummond and Eleanor Moore. Moore remained as secretary for many years.
Aside from its central object of abolishing war, WILPF in Australia has focussed on women’s rights and Indigenous Australians’ rights as well as working with projects for refugees in Australia and overseas.
Published resources
- Journal
- Resource