Three women's rights activists share Nobel Peace Prize 2011
Top news here in San Francisco is that the Nobel Peace Prize has been won by three women's rights activists.
The three women have won the award jointly for their "non-violent struggles for women's rights," says the BBC.
The three women are:
The Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf;
Leymah Gbowee - an activist from Liberia; and
Tawakul Karman - a Yemeni rights activist.
San Francisco resident Anne Witham says, "It's nice that women have won it and they have been amazingly brave in all their activities, not an easy thing to do. These are three strong, courageous, and empowered women, congratulations to them all"
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is Africa's first elected female head of state and is known to her supporters as the "Iron Lady."
Johnson-Sirlieaf was sent to prison during the 1980s because she criticized the then military regime of Samuel Doe. She then supported the Charles Taylor's rebellion but fell out with him and was labeled a traitor when he became president of Liberia.
Johnson-Sirleaf was elected president of Liberia in 2005 and she is standing for re-election on Tuesday.
Sirleaf said the award "gives me a stronger commitment to work for reconciliation. Liberians should be proud," according to the Guardian newspaper.
Leymah Gbowee
Leymah Gbowee is well-known in Liberia because she mobilized the women there against war.
The Nobel Committee said of Leymah Gbowee "(She) mobilized and organized women across ethnic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia, and to ensure women's participation in elections. She has since worked to enhance the influence of women in West Africa during and after war".
According to the BBC, Gbowee organized "a group of Liberian woman in 2002 to put pressure on then-President Charles Taylor to end the country's brutal civil war.
They were the mothers, wives and sisters of the men doing the fighting and their victims."
Tawakul Karman
Tawakul Karman is a journalist and activist from Yemen who started the group, Women Journalists Without Chains, back in 2005. Karman is an activist and women's rights advocate on human rights and freedom of expression.
Karman has also been the leader of many protests and sit-ins, demanding that political prisoners be set free.
According to newser.com, the prize, says the Committee "will help to bring an end to the suppression of women that still occurs in many countries, and to realize the great potential for democracy and peace that women can represent."
See photos and video on the left-hand side for more on Three women's rights activists share Nobel Peace Prize 2011
See more on this story here: CNN and BBC
See the following articles by this Examiner on other Nobel prizewinners:
Nobel Prize for Physics goes to local SF Bay Area man (photos, video)
Nobel Prize awarded, but one winner, Ralph Steinman, has died (video)
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