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What an uplifting end to the year with the empowering news on 7th October that Africa's first and only female president, Liberia's Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and two other outstanding women were the join recipients of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize. By Janelle Oswald
Top Accolade The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize goes to:
Honours: (L-r) Tawakkul Karman, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee
ment to work for reconciliation. Liberians should be proud.” Sharing the prize with Sirleaf is
T
he first women to be award- ed the world-revered acco- lade since 2004, this year’s Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Ellen Johnson-
Sirleaf, President of Liberia, along with her fellow countrywoman, social worker turned peace campaigner Leymah Gbow- ee, Executive Director of Women in Peace and Security Network, (WIPSEN) and a member of the African Women Leaders Network for Reproductive Health and Family Planning), and Yemeni opposition leader and journalist Tawakkul Karman. All three have been honoured for their
courageous and visionary leadership in advocating peace not just in their coun- tries but how their campaigning has had a knock-on-effect for women worldwide. Hailing their outstanding achieve-
ments, the Nobel committee said the three had been chosen “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 opportuni- ties as men to influence developments at all levels of society.”
6 | NEW AFRICAN WOMAN | AUTUMN 2011 Sharing the 10m kronor (£950,000)
prize money, the three women bring the tally of female winners to 15, compared with 85 male awardees of the Nobel Peace Prize, which has been running since 1901. A champion of girls and women
around the globe campaigning to “stand proud and tall” no matter the struggle, Sirleaf is Africa’s first democratically elected female president. A robust 72- year-old and Harvard-trained economist, she became the leader of Liberia in 2005, two years aſter the country achieved a fragile peace aſter decades of civil war. Speaking of her accomplishments, the Nobel committee said Sirleaf had “con- tributed to securing peace in Liberia, to promoting economic and social develop- ment, and to strengthening the position of women”. Declaring a zero-tolerance policy
against corruption and making educa- tion compulsory and free for all primary- age children, Sirleaf has endured death threats, incarceration, and exile, all the while challenging inequality, corruption, and violence. Speaking of her award, Sirleaf said: “Tis prize gives me a stronger commit-
39-year-old Gbowee, who was instru- mental in helping bring Liberia to peace in the early 2000s, leading a movement of women who dressed in white to protest against the use of rape and child soldiers in the war. During the 2003 peace talks, she and hundreds of women surrounded the hall where the discussions were being held, refusing to let delegates leave until they had signed the peace treaty. Trough her tireless mobilisation of
community women across religious and ethnic lines, first in Liberia and then across West Africa, Gbowee, who now lives in Ghana, signifies the power and impact of building movements for women’s rights, peace and democracy. Since 2004, Gbowee has served as a
commissioner on Liberia’s truth and recon- ciliation commission, and is now executive director of the Women in Peace and Secu- rity Network, an organisation that works with women in Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Ni- geria and Sierra Leone to promote peace, literacy and political involvement. Joining Sirleaf and Gbowee is 32-year-
old mother of three and founder of the group Women Journalists Without Chains, Tawakkul Karman. A prominent figure among youth activ-
ists in Yemen since the uprising in Feb- ruary demanding the end of the Saleh regime, Karman’s influence has become the voice of reason and truth on Arabic television reporting on the situation in the square outside Sana’a University, where dozens of activists have been shot dead by government forces.
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