How Women Respond to War: An Interview with Three Nobel Laureates

In June, three Nobel Peace Prize Laureates — American anti-war activist Jody Williams, Yemeni human rights activist Tawakkol Karman, and Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee — traveled to Ukraine and met with hundreds of women displaced by the ongoing conflict, along with women’s organizations, humanitarian agencies, and activists in Lviv, Ukraine, and Kraków, Poland.

“We came here to express our solidarity with all Ukrainian people in their journey for freedom and justice,” said Karman, “to tell them that [they] are not alone.

“We are [their] voices around the world,” she told Women Under Siege. “We came here to share their struggle, their dreams, and — very soon — their victory.”

The Nobel Women’s Initiative and United for Ukraine organized the trip and commissioned a short documentary titled “Oh, Sister.” The film, which featured the three Laureates and premiered in New York City on September 16, depicts the role of women in the fight for peace, justice, freedom, and prosperity in Ukraine, and was produced by an all-women Ukrainian creative team.

Women Under Siege spoke with them about their personal journeys and what brought them to Ukraine, the stories they heard there, and how Ukrainian women are fighting for peace in their country. The below interview has been edited for clarity.

Women Under Siege: Tell us why it was important for you to visit Ukraine, amid an active conflict, and document the stories of the women there.

Jody Williams: I was very happy that we were able to do a delegation to Ukraine. Over the sixteen years that the Nobel Women’s Initiative has existed, we’ve done many delegations, but I feel that this one was particularly important at this point in time. I guess that’s a statement of the obvious, but it was very hopeful to be there, to be able to work with the filmmaker, to write our report, and to come back and talk about human beings, about women working in all aspects of defending Ukraine and Ukrainians. It always feels like a huge privilege that I am able to participate in [this kind of] work.

I’ve often said that men are the ones who’ve waged war since the beginning of humans, and women clean up the mess. Two of my favorite Nobel friends, the Dalai Lama and [the late] Archbishop Desmond Tutu, both said independently that men have messed up the planet for a long time and they should step aside and let women clean up the mess, and it’s the truth.

Tawakkol Karman: We’ve made a lot of delegations to countries that suffer from war and conflict — from Syria to Korea and Latin America. It is really important to be very close to Ukrainian people now. It is our duty to listen to them, to help them, and to convey their struggle.

Was it at all difficult for you to be there at this time?

Leymah Gbowee: There was not a moment on this journey to Ukraine and Poland that didn’t stir up or reawaken my trauma from years as either a survivor of war or as a refugee from Liberia. Every step of the way, there were images that reminded me of where we’d been when we were fleeing, when we were at the refugee camp, or when I went back home, and what that did for me was reinforce the conclusion that the context of [each] war may be different, but the impact on humanity is always the same. War takes away the dignity of people. And so, for me, what this journey has done is reinforce my resolve to continue to work for peace, justice, and women’s rights, to continue to advocate for equality.

Why was it important to film your journey? What messages did you hope the documentary would send?

JW: We wanted to show the multi-faceted ways in which women respond. Women are survivors, and in every country in conflict that I’ve ever been to, women are like the women of Ukraine — trying to hold life together, trying to protect their children, doing as much as they can to protect their communities in the midst of war. It's a story often told in different ways, but it is still a story that doesn’t get the recognition that it should. It's still about heroic war, heroic men at war, etcetera. There is nothing heroic about war. It is death and destruction that we see in the news about Ukraine, and Putin's insane attacks on civilians on purpose — and there is nothing heroic about that.

Is there anything that stood out to you about Ukraine, that maybe differs from other conflicts you’ve observed?

TK: You cannot compare between countries and regions. But Ukraine is special because there is a war now, there is an ugly dictator that is there to kill Ukrainian people because he was encouraged to do this when he attacked and killed Syrian people, supporting the dictator Bashar al-Assad. It was the same thing when he invaded Georgia. He is a vicious dictator committing crimes, and he feels he is [beyond] accountability. If Putin had been punished and accountable because of his crimes in Syria, he wouldn’t dare to invade Ukraine. He should have been stopped when he invaded Syria. And if this war doesn’t stop him, he will start other wars in his neighborhood and around the world. And not just him but other dictators whom he supports or who have support from him. Putin should not achieve any one of his goals in Ukraine.

And what about the women you’d met in Ukraine? What left an impression on you?

LG: In Lviv, we met with women railway workers. These women stayed on the job in the face of heartbreak, constant safety concerns and exhausting, cramped conditions. The railway workers exemplified frontline actions by women to ensure safety for those escaping war. They are witnesses to humanity. They are the “superwomen” conductors of Lviv.

TK: One woman activist in Poland shared her story with us, and she was crying — not because her house was destroyed and her family was fighting, but because she could not return to Ukraine. While she is doing great work helping millions to flee, she feels like she should be inside the country, carrying a gun to fight. She was doing great work, but she still felt like she wasn’t doing enough for her country. Women helping others should stop blaming themselves for not doing enough.

Will you be going to Ukraine again?

TK: Of course, there is no doubt about that.

JW: We just don’t know when.