Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Three Activist Women

The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Friday to three defenders of the rights of women and committed to inclusion in the democratic process.

The president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the Liberian also Leymah Gbowee and Yemeni Roberta Tawakul Karman were awarded “for their nonviolent struggle for the safety of women and their rights to full participation in the work of building peace”, said the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, 72, came to power by winning elections in November 2005, becoming the first African president elected democratically.

Leymah Gbowee Roberta, 39, drove in 2002 the peace movement and multiethnic Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, which would end the second civil war in their country a year later and has worked to increase the influence of women in Africa.

The Yemeni Tawakul Karman, 32 years and the youngest to win the award, has played a central role in the struggle for women’s rights, democracy and peace in her country and lead the group of Women Journalists without Chains, founded in 2005.