This is a list of women pacifists and peace activists by nationality – notable women who are well known for their work in promoting pacifism.
Introduction
Women have been active in peace movements since at least the 19th century. After the First World War broke out in 1914, many women's organizations became involved in peace activities. In 1915, the International Congress of Women in the Hague brought together representatives from women's associations in several countries, leading to the establishment of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.Paull, John (2018) The Women Who Tried to Stop the Great War: The International Congress of Women at The Hague 1915, In A. H. Campbell (Ed.), Global Leadership Initiatives for Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding (pp. 249-266). (Ch.12) Hershey, PA: IGI Global. This in turn led to national chapters which continued their work in the 1920s and 1930s. After the Second World War, European women once again became involved in peace initiatives, mainly as a result of the Cold War, while from the 1960s the Vietnam War led to renewed interest in the United States.
Afghanistan
Palwasha Hassan (born 1969) – Afghan women's rights and peace activist and former politician Malalai Joya (born 1978) – Afghan activist, writer, and a politician dismissed from the National Assembly of Afghanistan for publicly denouncing the presence of warlords and war criminals in the Afghan Parliament
Albania
Sevim Arbana (born 1951) – Albanian women's rights activist and founder of "Women Bridge for Peace and Understanding”
Angola
Eunice Nangueve Inácio (born 1948) – Angolan peace activist
Argentina
Alicia Moreau de Justo (1885–1986) – Argentine physician, politician, pacifist and human rights activist
Armenia Lucy Thoumaian (1890–1940) – Armenian women's rights and peace activist
Australia Eva Bacon (1909–1994) – Australian socialist, feminist and pacifist Doris Blackburn (1889–1970) – Australian social reformer, politician and pacifist Helen Caldicott (born 1938) – Australian physician, anti-nuclear activist, revived Physicians for Social Responsibility, campaigner against the dangers of radiation Stella Cornelius (1919-2010) – Australian businesswoman and peace activist Margaret Holmes, AM (1909–2009) – Australian activist during the Vietnam War, member Anglican Pacifist Fellowship Zohl de Ishtar – Irish-Australian sociologist, anti-nuclear activist and feminist Amelia Lambrick (1864–1956) – Australian public servant and pacifist Isabel Longworth (1881–1961) – Australian dentist and peace activist Evelyn Masterman AM (1907–2014), Australian peace activist and parliamentary librarian Nancy Shelley OAM (1926–2010) – Quaker who represented the Australian peace movement at the UN in 1982 Barbara Grace Tucker – Australian peace activist, long time participant of London's Parliament Square Peace Campaign Jo Vallentine (born 1946) – Australian politician and peace activist Kathleen Deery de Phelps (1908–2001) – conservationist, philanthropist
Austria Hildegard Goss-Mayr (born 1930) – Austrian pacifist and theologian Yella Hertzka (1873–1948) – Austrian peace and women's rights activist Leopoldine Kulka (1872–1920) – Austrian writer, editor and pacifist Helene Lecher (1865–1929) – Austrian pacifist and philanthropist Olga Misař (1876–1950) – Austrian peace activist, feminist and writer Helene Scheu-Riesz (1880–1970), peace activist, children's writer, publisher Bertha von Suttner (1843–1914) – Czech-Austrian pacifist, first woman Nobel peace laureate
Belgium Isabelle Blume (1892–1975)– Belgian left wing politician, attended of the World Peace Council Eugénie Hamer (1865–after 1926) – Belgian peace activist, editor and writer Germaine Marie-Thérèse Hannevart (1887–1977) – Belgian teacher and peace campaigner Léonie La Fontaine (1857–1949) – Belgian feminist and pacifist
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Velma Šarić (born 1979) – Bosnian journalist, founder and president of the Post-Conflict Research Center Suvada Selimović (born 1965) – Bosnian pacifist who works to promote mutual aid between women and for those responsible for the crimes of the Bosnian War to be brought to justice
Botswana Lydia Nyati-Ramahobo (1957–2025) – Botswana linguistic scholar and language activist Malebogo Molefhe (born 1980) – Botswana activist against gender-based violence
Brazil
Elisa Branco (1912–2001) – Brazilian communist and peace activist, awarded with the Lenin Peace Prize Therezinha Zerbini (1928–2015) – Brazilian attorney and feminist leader, founded the Women's Movement for Amnesty in Brazil
Bulgaria Ekaterina Karavelova (1860–1947) – Bulgarian educator, writer, suffragist, feminist, pacifist
Canada Edith Ballantyne (1922–2025) – Czech-Canadian peace activist Christine Ross Barker (1866–1940) – Canadian pacifist and suffragist Alice Amelia Chown (1866–1949) – Canadian feminist, pacifist and writer Muriel Duckworth (1908–2009) – Canadian pacifist, feminist and community activist, founder of Nova Scotia Voice of Women for Peace Mildred Fahrni (1900–1992) – Canadian pacifist, feminist, internationally active in the peace movement Ursula Franklin (1921–2016) – German-Canadian scientist, pacifist and feminist, whose research helped end atmospheric nuclear testing Rae Luckock (1893–1972) – Canadian feminist, peace activist and politician Simonne Monet-Chartrand (1919–1993) – Canadian women's rights activist, feminist, pacifist Alaa Murabit (born 1989) – Libyan-Canadian physician and human rights advocate for inclusive peace and security Harriet Dunlop Prenter (fl. 1921) – Canadian feminist, pacifist Setsuko Thurlow (born 1932) – Japanese-Canadian non-nuclear weapon activist, figure of International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Julia Grace Wales (1881–1957) – Canadian academic and pacifist
Chile Nicolasa Quintremán (1939-2013) – Chilean Pehuenche activist
Colombia Yolanda Becerra (born 1959) – Colombian feminist and peace activist.
Costa Rica Olga Bianchi (1924–2015) – feminist, pacifist and women's rights activist
Cyprus Katherine Clerides (born 1949) – Cypriot peace activist.
Denmark Matilde Bajer (1840–1934) – Danish feminist and peace activists Henriette Beenfeldt (1878–1949) – Danish radical and peace activist Gita Brooke (1931–2020) – born in Denmark (in New Zealand since 1987) Benny Cederfeld de Simonsen (1865–1952) – Danish peace activist Henriette Crone (1874–1933) – trade unionist, peace activist and politician Thora Daugaard (1874–1951) – Danish feminist, pacifist, journal editor and translator Annelise Ebbe (1950–2020) – Danish peace activist and translator Henni Forchhammer (1863–1955) – Danish educator, feminist and pacifist Eline Hansen (1859–1919) – Danish feminist and peace activist Estrid Hein (1873–1956) – Danish ophthalmologist, women's rights activist and pacifist Ellen Hørup (1871–1953) – Danish writer, pacifist and women's rights activist Johanne Meyer (1838–1915) – pioneering Danish suffragist, pacifist and journal editor Eva Moltesen (1871–1934) – Finnish-Danish writer and peace activist Camilla Nielsen (1856–1932) – Danish philanthropist, feminist and peace activist Louise Nørlund (1854–1919) – Danish feminist and peace activist Voldborg Ølsgaard (1877–1939) – Danish peace and women's rights activist Clara Tybjerg (1864–1941) – Danish feminist, peace activist and educator Louise Wright (1861–1935) – Danish philanthropist, feminist and peace activist Else Zeuthen (1897–1975) – Danish peace activist, feminist and politician
Finland Maikki Friberg (1861–1927) – Finnish educator, journal editor, suffragist and peace activist. Lucina Hagman (1853–1946) – Finnish feminist, politician, pacifist. Helena Kekkonen (1926–2014), Finnish peace activist and peace educator.
France Marcelle Capy (1891–1962) – French novelist, journalist, pacifist Bernadette Cattanéo (1899-1963) – French trade unionist, communist activist, newspaper editor, magazine co-founder Fanny Clar (1875-1944) – French journalist and writer Gabrielle Duchêne (1870–1954) – French feminist and pacifist Solange Fernex (1934–2006) – French peace activist and politician Suzanne Grinberg (1899–1972) – French lawyer, pacifist, suffragist and writer France Hamelin (1918–2007) – French artist, peace activist and resistance worker Germaine Malaterre-Sellier (1889–1967) – French nurse, suffragist and pacifist Jeanne Mélin (1877–1964) – French pacifist, feminist, writer and politician Maria Pognon (1844–1925) – French writer, feminist, suffragist and pacifist Marie-Louise Puech-Milhau (1876–1966) – French pacifist, feminist and journal editor Colette Reynaud (1872–1965) – French feminist, socialist and pacifist journalist Jane Valbot (1884–1961), French pacifist and suffragist Madeleine Vernet (1878–1949) – French educator, writer and pacifist
Germany Anita Augspurg (1857–1943) – German lawyer, writer, feminist, pacifist Gertrud Baer (1890–1981) – German Jewish peace activist, and a founding member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Hedwig Dohm (1831–1919) – German feminist, writer, pacifist Anna B. Eckstein (1868–1947) – German advocate of world peace Anna Edinger (1863–1929) – German social activist, women's rights campaigner and peace activist Lida Gustava Heymann (1868–1943) – German feminist, pacifist and women's rights activist Petra Kelly (1947–1992) – German politician, feminist, pacifist Annette Kolb (1870–1967) – German writer and pacifist Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) – German marxist and anti–war activist. Renate Riemeck (1920–2003) – German historian and Christian peace activist Sophie Scholl (1921–1943) – German Christian pacifist, active in the White Rose non-violent resistance movement in Nazi Germany Margarethe Lenore Selenka (1860–1922) – German zoologist, feminist and pacifist Clara Zetkin (1857–1933) – German Maxist, feminist and pacifist
Guatemala Rigoberta Menchú (born 1959) – Guatemalan indigenous rights, anti-war, co-founder Nobel Women's Initiative, Nobel Peace Prize recipient
Hungary Vilma Glücklich (1872–1927) – Hungarian educator, pacifist and women's rights activist Paula Pogány (1884–1982) – Hungarian women's rights activist and pacifist Rosika Schwimmer (1877–1948) – Hungarian pacifist, feminist and suffragist
India Kirthi Jayakumar (born 1987) – Indian peace activist and gender equality activist, youth peace activist, peace educator and founder of The Red Elephant Foundation Gurmehar Kaur (born 1996) – Indian student and peace activist Mother Teresa (1910–1997) – Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun, missionary, pacifist, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Medha Patkar (born 1954) – Indian activist for Tribals and Dalits affected by dam projects Manasi Pradhan (born 1962) – Indian activist; founder of Honour for Women National Campaign Arundhati Roy (born 1961) – Indian writer, social critic and peace activist
Iran Shirin Ebadi (born 1947) – Iranian lawyer, human rights activist, Nobel peace laureate
Iraq Nadia Murad (born 1993) – Iraqi human rights activist, Nobel Prize laureate
Ireland Caoimhe Butterly (born 1978) – Irish peace and human rights activist Helen Chenevix (1886–1963) – Irish suffragist, trade unionist, pacifist Molly Childers (1875–1964) – Irish writer, nationalist, pacifist Margaretta D'Arcy (1934–2025) – Irish actress, writer and peace activist Adi Roche (born 1955) – Irish activist, chief executive of the charity Chernobyl Children International Lilian Stevenson (1870–1960) – Irish peace activist and historiographer
Israel Marcia Freedman (born 1938) – American-Israeli peace activist, feminist and supporter of gay rights Dahlia Ravikovitch (1936–2005) – Israeli poet and peace activist Hagar Rublev (1954–2000) – Israeli peace activist, founder of Women in Black Ada Yonath (1939–2026) – Israeli Laureate of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2009, pacifist
Italy