From left: Tawakkul Karman of Yemen, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf are shown in these file photos. (AP Photo)Nobel Peace Prize Highlights Role Of Women In Achieving Peace, Democracy -- Christian Science Monitor
The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a trio of women's rights activists: President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee of Liberia, and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize to three women for promoting women’s rights through peacebuilding work in Liberia and Yemen, and passed over contenders from the launching pads of the Arab uprisings – Tunisia and Egypt.
The award, which had only been bestowed on a dozen women before today, was shared between Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first democratically elected female president; Leymah Gbowee, who mobilized women across ethnic and religious lines to bring an end to war in Liberia; and Tawakkul Karman, head of Women Journalists Without Chains, who played a leading part in the struggle for women’s rights and democracy and peace in Yemen.
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