The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2011 is to be divided in three equal parts between Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman for their non-violent 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.

Acknowledging the role of women in world wide peace processes, the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Committee has indeed made a powerful statement in support of peaceful activism, women’s rights and the absolute need for leadership presence and influence of women in today’s global arena.

While African and Middle Eastern countries struggle with tremendous abuses and challenges of civil and political rights, three outstanding women have been awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.

From Liberia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and activist Leymah Gbowee, who heads the Women Peace and Security network, will share the almost 1.5 million award with Yemen activist and leader of the human rights advocacy group Women Journalists Without Chains, Tawakkul Karman.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

President Johnson Sirleaf, the only woman head of state elected through democratic process in all of Africa, has held her position since 2006 and is running for re-election this month. After two civil wars that lasted over two decades ended in 2003 a democratic leadership has been uneasily kept in the presence of U.N. peacekeeping forces.

Sirleaf, 72, married at 17, traveled to the U.S. with her husband and holds an economics degree from Harvard. She has held positions at the World Bank, served as Minister of Finance in Liberia until the military coup in 1980, then prominate positions at private institutions until she first ran for president in 1997. She then held positions at the United nations until winning the Presidential election in 2005. Sirleaf has been awarded over a dozen humanitarian and academic awards and honorary degrees.

Leyman Gbowee

Leymah Gbowee was instrumental in bringing an end to the second civil war in Liberia by organizing women of Christian and Muslim faiths to pray, sing and peacefully demonstrate together through sit-ins and daily marches. Additionally, the women arranged sex strikes to get husbands to support their peaceful movement - refusing sex until the fighting subsided proved to be a useful means to the end. The group was also successful in getting then President Charles Taylor to participate in peace talks and negotiate with rebel forces. Trained as a trauma counselor in Virginia and a mother of six, Gbowee counseled child soldiers who had been trained to fight and kill in Taylor’s Liberian army and became convinced that it would be up to mothers to make a difference. “With your society as upside down - we turned it upright!” Thousands of women wearing white shirts are still petitioning successfully to other African governments for peace. Now based in Ghana, Gbowee is general director for Women Peace and Security Network Africa.

Tawakkol Karman

Tawakkol Karman, 32, a journalist in Yemen, the first Arab to receive a Nobel award, has been arrested multiple times, detained and held in chains for participating in organizing pro-democracy protests against the 33-year regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. In a country which still does not recognize equal rights for women, Karman defies the traditional role for women by rejecting full veil dress and speaking out in public demonstrations, often being the sole female face in crowds of protesting men and veiled women. In 2007 Karman along with 7 other women co-founded Women Journalists Without Chains. She marched with Egyptians in Cairo for human rights and is viewed as a symbol of strength and hope in Yemen. Karman continues to organize and protest against limits on freedom of press, human rights abuses and challenges the authority of Saleh. She humbly credits the youth in Yemen for the success of peaceful, pro-democratic protests. She wrote for The Guardian last spring, “Despite the fact that hundreds of protesters have been killed by the regime, not one police officer or security agent has been killed by the masses.” This young mother of 3 and liberal observer of Islam has already been attacked by knife-weilding mobs, threatened with death and with fears of kidnapping restricting her movement Karmen successfully uses social networking sites to her continue her activism.

The World Responds

Nobel Peace Prize Director Speaks

Hillary Clinton Congratulates Female Nobel Peace Laureates

Press Statement

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Secretary of State

Washington, DC

October 7, 2011

I am delighted to send heartfelt congratulations to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Yemeni activist Tawakkul Karman and Liberian peace activist Leymah Roberta Gbowee for the prestigious honor of sharing this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. They are shining examples of the difference that women can make and the progress they can help achieve when given the opportunity to make decisions about the future of their societies and countries.
The unflinching courage, strength and leadership of these women to build peace, advance reconciliation, and defend the rights of fellow citizens in their own countries provide inspiration for women’s rights and human progress everywhere. This recognition of their extraordinary accomplishments reflects the efforts of many other women who are promoting peace and security in their countries and communities. I want to commend the Nobel Committee for recognizing the powerful role women are playing in building peace and ending conflict around the world. http://still4hill.wordpress.com/

Women Nobel Peace Laureates Congratulate Three New Women Laureates

(Ottawa)—The women Peace Laureates of the Nobel Women’s Initiative—Jody Williams (USA), Shirin Ebadi (Iran), Mairead Maguire (Ireland) and Rigoberta Menchu Tum (Guatemala)—today sent letters of congratulations to the three women who today were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize: Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee and Yemini opposition leader Tawakkul Karman. “Your victory today is a victory for all women around the world struggling for peace, justice and equality,” said Jody Williams, who won the Nobel Peace prize in 1997 for her work to ban landmines. “We are inspired by your example of nonviolent action in the face of brutal violence, discrimination and injustice. You remind us that with women’s bold action, there is hope for a better world.” http://www.feminist.com/activism/unitedforpeace.html

Visit Nobelprize.org for links to all of the Nobel Prize Awarded Women including our 2011 featured women peace prize winners.

Post your greetings to the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates here

AOC Women Nobel Prize Award articles: /world/2011/9/26/wangari-maathai-2004-nobel-peace-prize-winner-be-a-hummingbi.html

/fp/elinor-ostrom-first-woman-to-win-nobel-prize-in-economics.html

/fp/romanian-herta-mueller-wins-nobel-prize-in-literature.html

/fp/american-women-score-first-among-nobel-prize-2009-winners.html

Related links: http://praythedevilbacktohell.com/Pray The Devil Back To Hell: Documentary featuring Leymah Gbowee

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/19/opinion/19karman.htmlYemen’s Unfinished Revolution by Tawakkul Karman