Women of Wales: Building a future of peace together

Beth Winter

Never has the need to stand against war and militarism felt more urgent. From Moscow to Washington, Jerusalem to NATO headquarters in Brussels, the language of power is increasingly hawkish and aggressive.

Even closer to home, our own Parliament under Keir Starmer’s leadership seems more comfortable talking about weapons and defence than peace. Once again, it feels like decisions about life and death are being made by men in power – with devastating consequences for ordinary people.

At moments like this, it matters that we remember our own history. Over the recent Christmas period, I was heartened to read an article by Rowan Williams reflecting on a remarkable episode from Wales’s past.

Writing in The Guardian in December 2023, he revisited the peace petition organised by the women of Wales in the 1920s. Around 400,000 women signed that petition, which was sent to the United States, calling on women in both countries to stand together for peace, to control the arms trade, and to support full participation in the international court of justice.

This was an extraordinary act of internationalism and these women understood something profound: that peace could not be secured by governments alone, and that solidarity across borders was not only possible but necessary.

Today, we are once again living through a period of extreme volatility and danger. War is normalised, militarism is celebrated, and human life is too often reduced to numbers on a screen. So what can the women of Wales do in this moment? Can we build on the courage and determination shown by Welsh women a century ago?

I believe we can. And more than that, I believe we must. As Rowan Williams wrote, we should “remember the tenacity of 400,000 Welsh women a century ago, and then use your power to shape events today.”

Those women showed us where real power lies – not in military might or political posturing, but in people organising together, rooted in care for one another and for the wider world.

We can see that spirit alive in Wales today. In Cynon Valley, women have been central to recent peace initiatives. In 2025, a Peace Festival was held in Aberdare to mark the anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – a horrific reminder of the human cost of war.

Most of the organisers were women, and the festival was chaired by Jill Evans of CND Cymru. Women speakers included myself, Mererid Hopwood – our inspiring
National Eisteddfod Archdruid – and, most powerfully, Kyoko Gibson, who was born in Hiroshima and now lives in Wales.

Her story brought home the reality that war does not end when the fighting stops. Its impacts are carried in bodies, families and communities for generations, often by women who bear the heaviest burdens of loss and survival.

We can also draw strength from the legacy of Greenham Common. Women from Wales
played a leading role in the peace camp there, marching in 1981 from Wales to protest the siting of US Cruise missiles on British soil.

Welsh women remained active at Greenham until 2000, long after the missiles were removed. I remember going as a child with my sister and my mother, travelling from south Wales to the camp.

That experience stays with me, as part of a long tradition of Welsh women refusing to accept war as inevitable. This continuity matters. It reminds us that peace activism is not a moment, but a movement passed from one generation to the next.

This sense of togetherness feels more vital now than ever. “Might is right” thinking seems to dominate global politics. As I write, I see brave women paying an unbearable price for speaking out: a young British woman close to death after a hunger strike protesting the genocide in Gaza; a young mother murdered for protesting the treatment of migrants in the United States; the kidnapped wife of a national leader appearing in court bruised and battered.

These are not isolated incidents – they are symptoms of a world that has lost sight of human dignity. It is time to say enough. The politics of hate and division must end.

The future of our children and grandchildren hangs in the balance. We need to remember that we are all part of one human family – that no one is an island, and that every life lost diminishes us all.

Because let’s be honest: the only people who profit from war are arms manufacturers. Ordinary people pay the price. My call, then, is to the women—and men—of Wales, and to young people across our communities: let us work together to build a different future.

A future grounded in peace, justice, care, tolerance, equality and international solidarity. The women of Wales have shown before what is possible. We can do so again. After all, we are many. They are few.