Women woven together in their separate lives. Women in situations they did not seek. War, flood, earthquake, fire, rape. Women with children, waiting for family, fearing the worst. Women with men they fear. Women alone in depression and oppression. Women capable of love and living, trapped in prisons not of their making.

Peace and security in women’s lives have been issues for me for quite some time. All forms of physical and mental abuse, whether inflicted by family, friend or invader, are truly abhorrent.

What to say? What to do? What have we learned? Can we learn? Look at the past! Please look at the past! Please learn from the past! They worked so hard for us!

It is believed quilts were used in the south as forms of communication in the Underground Railroad movement to help slaves seeking their freedom to escape north before and during the American Civil War. It is an understatement to say that African American women were victims of violence during the time of slavery in the United States. Women still face tremendous violence on a global scale.

Women the world over are standing up and demanding their place. Due to their efforts slowly but surely the doors are beginning to open. In my quilt, I am celebrating this progress.

The weeping woman depicted in the piece, representative of all women, is juxtaposed against a sunrise with butterflies, suggesting hope. Women worldwide are victims of multiple types of oppression, assault and discrimination.

At refugee camps like Iridimi in Western Chad, women who have been driven from their homes and villages by conflict leave the camps to seek firewood for their families. As they venture farther and farther from the camp they become vulnerable to attack.

It has been over ten years since UN Resolution 1325 was passed but there is still a lack of recognition as to why women matter to peace and security. Women are far too often seen only as victims, not as the agents of change whose perspectives and participation are critical in peacemaking and peace building.