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The formation of the Women's Committee is rooted in the historical reality that has seen the urgency of humanitarian, with input from emergency personnel, in the events of war that shattered Europe two centuries ago (800).'
The origins of women's contribution to the Red Cross dates back to the second half of the 800 when during the Battle of Solferino Lombardy women attended the Franco-Piedmontese army's bloody battle against the Austrian army and without making any distinction of nationality they have contributed to the rescue of the wounded, both military and civilian.
Even Henry Dunant, the same June of 1859, has found himself as a spectator of that tragic episode in the history of the Italian independence.Shocked by the carnage that followed, he chose freely to participate in the relief efforts along with the women who, coming out of the spinning mills of Castiglione delle Stiviere with makeshift bandages and jugs of water, did their utmost in providing relief to countless injuries(which blood soaked the ground) in an attempt to soothe their unspeakable suffering.
These were the first women of the Red Cross.
Among men,the swiss Dunant may be considered one of the forerunners of the International Movement as well as the italian doctor Ferdinando Palasciano who operated for the wounded in the siege of Messina in 1848;among women, we cannot fail to remember the work of the grand duchess Héléna Pavlowna, a russian noblewoman who helped funding, with 170,000 gold francs, the assistance organization in Crimea (during the years 1854-1856);and there were 250 noble women who left for the Crimea as volunteers selected by the duchess and prepared to assist hospitals in St. Petersburg.
The Italian princess Cristina Belgioioso has also been a pioneer of the Red Cross message;during the war events related to the conquer of Porta Pia (1870) she assisted the wounded,helped by a swarm of young women of various social origins.
The fundamental principles of the Red Cross,recognized in the Geneva Convention as pivotal node of the movement,are now part of the mankind history as they find their realization moment in the work of all the Italian Red Cross Volunteers;and they are the guiding thread for everyday women who form the Women's Committee.
A few years after the first Geneva Convention and the subsequent birth of our National Company (Milan, 1864)the italian Women Union was established ,based on the general rules established by the Statute of the Italian Association of Assistance to the sick and wounded war.
On January 19, 1879 became effective the first regulation of the Ladies of the Red Cross.
On April 25,1888, at the invitation of Her Majesty Queen Margherita of Savoy, in the Yellow Room of the Palazzo del Quirinale, at four in the afternoon was held the first meeting of the Higher Commission of the CRI's Ladies Union, similar to today's National Council;since then, uninterruptedly, women from all grounds and all walks of life( which together have always offered a constant work of relief in time of war and peace )have dedicated their energy to the growth of Women's Committees.
The development of the history has changed scenarios and systems: the theaters of war along with social realities full of suffering, new poverty, hardship, deprivation, lacks of any kind. In fact, the seven principles of the Red Cross in the service of a world understood as a peace laboratory built in the spirit of "friendly coexistence of differences" are not random.And perhaps nobody can facilitate the building of this dimension, in full respect of the mankind,better than women..
The italian women's committees have opened shelters, rehabilitation and assistance centers with funds raised by their own volunteers.
They are also active in public hospitals to offer support to the patients in consultation with the medical staff .Lead by the humanitarian and altruistic spirit that distinguished them,they promote aid initiative particularly aimed to children, the marginalized, the elderly,the disabled,the refugees,to all those who are struggling due to a state of calamity.
The Women's Committee is also present where there the society and the institutions sometimes cannot fully intervene. Their silent and steady work finds roots in the ancient heart of the past, along the lines of a humanitarian project that attempts to ensure that the human kind loneliness condition does not lead to despair but glimpses a path of hope, regeneration and redemption from a state of discomfort.
And it is only within the responsible solidarity ,which is characteristic for the CRI Volunteer Women's Committee that you can meet and listen to the other as a part of yourself, sharing the problems,the suffering and the pain.
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Women Division