2011 Nobel Peace Prize to three women from Liberia and Yemen

(October 07, 2011) Africa's first democratically elected female president, a Liberian peace activist and a woman who stood up to Yemen's authoritarian regime won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their work to secure women's rights, which the prize committee described as fundamental to advancing world peace. The 10 million kronor ($1.5 million) award will be split three ways between Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, peace activist Leyma Gbowee, also from Liberia and democracy activist Tawakkul Karman of Yemen - the first Arab woman to win the prize. By citing Karman, the committee also appeared to be acknowledging the effects of the Arab Spring, which has challenged authoritarian regimes across the region. The Norwegian Nobel Committee honoured the three women ``for their nonviolent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work.'' ``We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society,'' the prize committee said. It hoped the prize would bring more attention to rape and other violence against women as well as women's role in promoting democracy in Africa and the Arab and Muslim world. Karman, a 32-year-old mother of three who heads the human rights group Women Journalists without Chains, has been a leading figure in organizing protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh that kicked off in late January as part of a wave of anti-authoritarian revolts that have convulsed the Arab world. Sirleaf, 72, has a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University and has held top regional jobs at the World Bank, the United Nations and within the Liberian government. On winning Liberia’s elections in 2005 she became Africa's first democratically elected female leader. Meanwhile, Gbowee, who organized a group of Christian and Muslim women to challenge Liberia's warlords, was honoured for mobilizing women ``across ethnic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia, and to ensure women's participation in elections.'' Gbowee has long campaigned for the rights of women and against rape. In 2003, she led hundreds of female protesters through Monrovia to demand swift disarmament of fighters who preyed on women throughout Liberia during 14 years of near-constant civil war.