International Women's Day, March 8th. Glasgow women can stand tall with a proud history of women who stood up and took their place in the struggle for that better world.
During the jingoism and the establishment's rampant patriotism pushing for everybody to get behind the imperialist war of 1914-1918, women in Glasgow took to the streets and faced the wrath of the media and large sections of the public in their drive for peace. This from Strugglepedia: "--in June 1916 organised a peace conference in the city which gave birth
to The Women’s Peace Crusade which became a dominant force in the
anti-war movement. There is some variation on the actual date but June
10th 1916 is generally accepted as the birth of the Women’s Peace
Crusade. A year later, June 1917 saw the Women’s Peace Crusade go
national with the launch of the National Women’s Peace Crusade---"
Collectively and individually, women of Glasgow have always played their part in the city's struggles, there is a catalogue of names some well known and others less known, but all played an important part in the fight for a better world for all.
To name few from the past, in no particular order, and hope that their names and deeds will always be remembered and honoured by us all.
Helen Crawfurd, Jane Hamilton Patrick, Mary Barbour, Ethel MacDonald, Helen Brown Scott Lennox, Rita Milton, Of course there are more, many more, and some we will never see in the history books, but who are just as important as all the others. What is more important is that there are as many or perhaps more women now standing up and taking on the battles of the day, let's make sure we note their actions and remember their names. We can learn from the past. A good place to look to see what Glasgow's women are up to would be the Glasgow Women's Library.
