Sadat’s Widow Carries on Crusade for Peace

The widow of slain Egyptian president Anwar El Sadat said Saturday the world was no more at peace than 10 years ago, just before her husband negotiated an unprecedented peace agreement with Israel at Camp David in 1978.

“We are crying for peace, and unfortunately we are fighting everywhere,” said Jehan El Sadat during a visit to San Diego and Coronado to receive two honors. Asked if she thought the world a safer place than five or 10 years ago, she replied: “I hope it will be in the future, but not for the time being at least.”

Sadat also called upon the media to help with the cause of peace by “giving examples, by talking about it, by showing people the disasters of the world. That will make the leaders also be much more concerned.”

“It’s ridiculous killing each other and just waging war,” she added. “Who is winning from this? Both sides everywhere are losing, which is ridiculous.”

Considered a role model for women and an advocate for world peace, Sadat was in San Diego to receive an honorary doctor of Humane Letters degree from United States International University, along with a “living legacy peace award” from the Women’s International Center. Her remarks were made at a news conference hosted by the women’s group at the Hotel del Coronado.

Sadat, whose husband was gunned down by Muslim fundamentalists on Oct. 6, 1981, also said that women hold the key for peace.

“Women, by nature, are for peace,” she said. “This is obvious to anyone . . . They (women) are the first to reconcile between their children at home. They can instill in their children the meaning of peace when they are young.”

She also emphasied that women must fight for their rights in a way that will make them “partners, not competitors” with men.

Asked what she would advise a young woman to do, she said: “When she calls for her rights, when she fights for her rights, she has to prove to men that she deserves them by the sincerity of her work, by the sincerity between her colleagues and friends.

“We want to share, we want to build our societies side by side with men,” she added. “We don’t want to be behind” men.

Besides Sadat, the women’s group also honored Sister Mary Vincent Otto, who overcame 15 years in mental institutions to be elected this year to the National Mental Health Assn.’s board of directors.

She is immediate past president of the San Diego County Mental Health Assn. and author of the autobiography “Vince,” which is scheduled to be made into a movie.

“I’m somewhat overwhelmed to have been selected for this,” Otto said. “Ten years ago at this time I had reached the bottom of the pit of mental illness. I had no idea I could recover.”

Also honored by the center were anthropologist Dr. Jane Goodall, actress Helen Hayes, Maj. Gen. Jeanne M. Holm, former Rep. Barbara Jordan, author and aviator Anne Morrow Lindbergh, presidential adviser Clare Boothe Luce, Empress Nagako of Japan, feminist leader Gloria Steinem and entertainer Kate Smith.

Only Sadat and Otto were able to attend the afternoon press conference. Hayes was scheduled to attend the banquet at the hotel, while the other recipients were expected to be absent.

The Women’s International Center, founded in 1983, began its award program last year to honor the “global” accomplishments of 11 women. Among its first recipients was Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, who is known for her book 1969 “On Death and Dying.”

The goal of the center is to gain recognition and help build an international archives and library in San Diego to honor the international contribution of women in every field, supporters said.