Carol has been working with Women Wage Peace since she learned of them in 2014 through her work in the Women’s Leadership Forum of J Street. When we met with WWP leaders during our April trip to Israel this year, we found it so exciting that we decided we had to participate in march they were planning. Carol described her involvement in a blog post on the J Street site, Why I’m Participating in the March of Hope.
Carol was instrumental in arranging support (both financial and publicity) for the group in the United States and has been in contact with the organizers about publicity throughout the planning. On this trip, we became much closer friends with many of the organizers (and their supportive husbands). One of the most striking things about the organization is the way they work collaboratively, rather than through the usual hierarchical leadership structure. Most of the work was done by independent subgroups, and leadership rotated as the many plans were made and carried out. Whenever a woman suggested something they could do, she was encouraged to take the leadership to implement her idea. WWP followed a feminist model of how to get things done through cooperation and collaboration.
There isn’t room here to talk about all the remarkable people we met and worked with, so we’ll single out a few who were particularly notable. Before that, here is a quick tour of the places we went to (which were only a fraction of the events overall).
