Library Weekly

On 1 February 1972, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee was born in Central Liberia. Gbowee is known for the rallying of women who pressured leaders to end Liberia’s civil war. She was one of three recipients, along with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Tawakkul Karmān, of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, 'for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work'.

Gbowee was seventeen years old when the Liberian civil war started. While the conflict raged, she became a young mother and eventually trained as a trauma counsellor, working with former child soldiers. Gbowee came to believe in the woman’s responsibility to the next generation to work proactively in the restoration of  peace, and she became a founding member and Liberia Coordinator of the Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET).

In 2002, Gbowee mobilised women of various ethnic and religious backgrounds to protest against Liberia’s ongoing conflict. The WIPNET-led group, which finally became known as the Liberian Mass Action for Peace, demonstrated against the war by praying at markets and in front of churches, mosques, and government buildings. Dressed in white and in great numbers, the group eventually held nonviolent demonstrations and sit-ins on a daily basis.

In 2003, the warring factions attended peace talks in Ghana that were organised by international parties in an attempt to bring an end to the Liberian conflict. Gbowee led a delegation of Liberian women to Accra. When the talks seemed to stall, the women simply "dropped down, in front of the glass door that was the main entrance to the meeting room”. They refused to let Taylor’s representatives and the other leaders leave until an agreement was reached. When the men tried to leave the hall, Gbowee and her allies threatened to rip their clothes off – an act that according to African beliefs would have brought a curse of terrible misfortune upon the men. Gebowee’s threat worked, and it proved to be a decisive turning point for the peace process.

After the war, Gbowee continued to advocate for peace and the empowerment of women.  She served among others as commissioner on Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2004–05).
In addition to the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, Gbowee has received numerous other awards, including two honorary doctorates.

(Sources: Wikipedia, NobelPrize.org, Britannica.com)

Selected publications

Leymah Gbowee : interview, 23 December 2021 (Nobel Prize Conversations)

Timeline of Liberian women activists via Wikidata and DBpedia ,/h3>