"HELP WANTED: Everywoman. Home keepers for Earth. Must keep premises safe for all. Have a concern for children's needs and development, ability to manage resources, resolve conflicts, work collaboratively, ask questions, listen, and learn from the experience of others, be empathetic, and act with compassion for the benefit of all, including the generations to come."
Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D., a Jungian analyst and author of nine books including The Millionth Circle: How To Change Ourselves and the World, puts out a call in this stirring work to "gather the women" so they can bring peace to our conflicted and troubled times. She points out that twice before American women rallied to bring about social change: once with the "women's suffragette movement" and then with the "women's movement." Now it is time for the "women's peace movement" to stop violence against women, children, in schools, on the streets of cities, and in countries where neighbor wars against neighbor. "Until women collectively become involved in creating a culture of peace to stop violence begetting violence in the human family, women and children will continue to be the primary casualties," she writes.
Bolen is convinced that empowered maternal concern is an untapped feminine force that can be unleashed in the form of love and compassion. The same nurturing capacities that are demonstrated in the home, where women take care of their children and fragile elders, and maintain harmony in the family and in the neighborhood, can be applied to national and planetary problems. Bolen recognizes that many idealistic and caring women have suffered burnout, but she still sees hopeful signs, such as the courage of whistleblowers, the persistence of the Mothers of the Disappeared in Buenos Aires, the 9/11 widows, and others. The Mother has sent an urgent message. Are you ready to answer the call with your time and talents to bring peace and justice to the planet?
