Three Women of Color Receive the Nobel Peace Prize- 2011

Tawakkul Karman; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; Laymah Gbowee

I require a little uplifting, so this news is nothing but good. Three women of color have received the Nobel Peace Prize this year--- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia, Leymah Gbowee, a social worker and peace campaigner from Liberia, and Tawakkul Karman, a journalist and activist from Yemen, are the recipients.

Here's what the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize committee said about the three women:

"You give concrete meaning to the Chinese proverb which says that 'women hold up half the sky.. We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women acquire the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society. We thank you for the hope you awaken in us all."

Johnson Sirleaf, a graduate of Harvard, is called the 'Iron Lady' because of her strong leadership in Liberia. She has been president since 2006, and is the first democratically elected woman in Africa. 

Leymah Gbowee, age 39, organized Liberian women to protest in 2003 for the end to the Liberia civil war, and the use of rape and child soldiers. At one point she suggested a 'sex strike," in order to get the treaty signed. She said to men: "You can't go and kill mothers and daughters and then come home to expect sex." Unfortunately her idea was never carried out. 

I've often thought of this tactic as a method to change the world overnight. I've never heard of any feminist actually suggesting it or doing it. 

Tawakkul Karman is the first Arab woman, and one of the youngest women ever, to receive the Nobel Prize. She founded the organization "Women Journalists Without Chains."