AP October 08, 2011 12:00AM
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has been jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Source: AFP
Yemeni activist Tawakel Karman, pictured in January 2011, on her release from prison. Source: AFP
Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee, pictured in 2009 with Caroline Kennedy. Source: AP
AFRICA'S first democratically elected female president, a Liberian peace activist and a woman who stood up to Yemen's authoritarian regime won the Nobel Peace Prize last night 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 was split three ways between Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, peace activist Leyma Gbowee from the same country and democracy activist Tawakkul Karman of Yemen - the first Arab woman to win the prize.
By citing Ms Karman, the committee also appeared to be acknowledging the effects of the Arab Spring, which has challenged authoritarian regimes across the region. The three women were honoured "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," the prize committee said.
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Committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland said he 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.
Ms Karman, a 32-year-old mother of three, heads human rights group Women Journalists without Chains. She has been a leading figure in organising 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.
"I am very, very happy about this prize," she said. "I give the prize to the youth of revolution in Yemen and the Yemeni people."
Ms Sirleaf, 72, has a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University and has held top regional jobs at the World Bank, the UN and within the Liberian government.
In elections in 1997, she ran second to warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor, who many claimed was voted into power by a fearful electorate. Although she lost by a landslide, she rose to national prominence, earning the nickname "Iron Lady". She became Africa's first democratically elected female leader in 2005.
She is running for re-election this month and opponents in the presidential campaign have accused her of buying votes and using government funds to campaign. Her camp denies the charges. The election is Tuesday.
Ms Gbowee, who organised Christian and Muslim women to challenge Liberia's warlords, was honoured for mobilising women "across ethnic and religious lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia and ensure women's participation in elections."
She 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 civil war.
In 2009, she won a Profile in Courage Award, an honour named for a 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book written by John F. Kennedy.
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