The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize was jointly awarded to three female political activists. Two African and one Asian female were awarded for their persistence in obtaining equal rights for women.

Laureates

The joint laureated were:

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast� ...

n President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (b. 1938), Liberian activist

Leymah Gbowee Leymah Roberta Gbowee (born 1 February 1972) is a Liberian peace activist responsible for leading a women's nonviolent peace movement, Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace that helped bring an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. Her ef ...

(b. 1972) and

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast and ...

i politician

Tawakkul Karman Tawakkol Abdel-Salam Khalid Karman ( ar, توكل عبد السلام خالد كرمان, Tawakkul 'Abd us-Salām Khalid Karmān; also romanized ''Tawakul'', ''Tawakel''; born 7 February 1979) is a Yemeni Nobel Laureate, journalist, politician ...

(b. 1979) "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work". In announcing the award on 7 October 2011, the chairman of the

Norwegian Nobel Committee The Norwegian Nobel Committee ( no, Den norske Nobelkomité) selects the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize each year on behalf of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel's estate, based on instructions of Nobel's will. Five members are appointed by ...

Thorbjørn Jagland Thorbjørn Jagland (born Thorbjørn Johansen; , 5 November 1950) is a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party. He served as the secretary general of the Council of Europe from 2009 to 2019. He served as the 32nd prime minister of Norway from ...

, stressed the link between

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countri ...

, peace and

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...

Nomination and announcement

The winner is selected by the

from nominations by others. There were 241 nominations for the 2011 award, which included the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...

and individuals connected with the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and econo ...

such as

Israa Abdel Fattah Esraa Abdel Fattah ( ar, إسراء عبد الفتاح, ; also called ''Facebook Girl''); born 1978 is an Egyptian internet activist and blogger. Esraa worked as a human resources administrator, when she co-founded the April 6 Youth Movem ...

and

Wael Ghonim Wael Ghonim ( ar, وائل غنيم, Wā'il Ghunīm. born 23 December 1980) is an Internet activist and computer engineer with an interest in social entrepreneurship. In 2011, he became an international figure and galvanized pro-democracy de ...

. The

five members The Five Members were Members of Parliament whom King Charles I attempted to arrest on 4 January 1642. King Charles I entered the English House of Commons, accompanied by armed soldiers, during a sitting of the Long Parliament, although the ...

of the Nobel Committee are appointed by the

Norwegian Parliament The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

to roughly reflect the party makeup of that body.Lundestad, Geir 2012: "The Nobel Peace Prize: 1901-2000", Nobelprize.org. The Committee members may not be current parliament members or government officials.

Reactions

The reactions from politicians and commentators to the 2011 prize were mainly positive but

Winston Tubman Winston A. Tubman (born 1941) is a Liberian diplomat and politician of Americo-Liberian descent. He is a former justice minister and diplomat for the nation, as well as having been the standard bearer of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC). ...

, who stood against Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the 2011 presidential election, criticised the award, accusing Sirleaf of being "a warmonger"."Winston Tubman: Nobel laureate Sirleaf is 'a warmonger'"
(7 October 2011). ''BBC News''. Retrieved 10 October 2013.

References

{{2011 Nobel Prize winners

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolo ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

December 2011 events in Europe