This year’s Nobel Peace Prize has been jointly awarded to three women for their “non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.”

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is Africa’s first woman elected head of state, Leymah Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist, and Tawakul Karman is part of Yemen’spro-democracy movement.

The chairman of the Nobel committee, Thorbjorn Jagland, said:

“We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women achieve
the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society.”

 

The women will share the £1 million prize that accompanies the award.