ABSTRACT
This paper seeks to pinpoint the precise role played by Belgian women in the defence of peace prior to the First World War by attending to the particular ideologies they upheld as well as to the means they chose to attain their goal. However, scarcely two years later, a law was passed banning women from clubs, thus effectively prohibiting their participation in political life. It is within this context that a few women, in the last decade of the nineteenth century, became interested in the peace movement. Founded in 1911, its aim was a return to the notion of a 'just war.' Women were invited to join the League, but, of its 1600 members, the number of women was negligible. Its purpose was to monitor the implementation of resolutions adopted by the Congress, to see to the preparation of future congresses, and also to coordinate, in an efficient manner, all pacifist activities throughout Belgium.
