Biography
Leymah Gbowee was born in central Liberia. At the age of 17, she moved to Monrovia, when the First Liberian Civil War erupted. She trained as a trauma counselor during the civil war in Liberia and worked with the ex-child soldiers of Charles Taylor's army. Surrounded by the images of war, she realized that "if any changes were to be made in society it had to be by the mothers". She is a mother of six.
Peace movement
In 2002, Leymah Gbowee was a social worker who organized the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace. The peace movement started with local women praying and singing in a fish market. She organized the Christian and Muslim women of Monrovia, Liberia to pray for peace and to hold nonviolence protests.
Under Leymah Gbowee's leadership, the women managed to force a meeting with President Charles Taylor and extract a promise from him to attend peace talks in Ghana. Gbowee then led a delegation of Liberian women to Ghana to continue to apply pressure on the warring factions during the peace process. They staged a silent protest outside the Presidential Palace, Accra, bringing about an agreement during the stalled peace talks.
Leymah Gbowee and Comfort Freeman, presidents of two different Lutheran churches, organized the Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET), and issued a statement of intent to the President: "In the past we were silent, but after being killed, raped, dehumanized, and infected with diseases, and watching our children and families destroyed, war has taught us that the future lies in saying NO to violence and YES to peace! We will not relent until peace prevails."
Their movement brought an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003 and led to the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in Liberia, the first African nation with a female president.
White t-shirts
Dressed in white t-shirts to symbolize peace, and numbering in the thousands, the women became a political force against violence and against their government. They have been successful in petitioning other African governments for peace.
Documentary
Leymah Gbowee is the central character in the 2008 documentary film Pray the Devil Back to Hell. The film has been used as an advocacy tool in post-conflict zones like Sudan and Zimbabwe, mobilizing African women to petition for peace and security.
Awards
Recipient of the 2007 Blue Ribbon for Peace from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Recipient of the Women's eNews 2008 Leaders for the 21st Century Award
Recipient of the 2009 Gruber Prize for Women's Rights
Recipient of the 2009 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.
Recipient of the 2010 Living Legends Award for Service to Humanity
Recipient of the 2010 John Jay Medal for Justice from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Recipient of the 2010 Joli Humanitarian Award from Riverdale Country School
Recipient of the 2011 Villanova Peace Award from Villanova University
Recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize
Education and training
Master of Arts in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia
Certifications: Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding Training at the United Nations Institute for Training, the Healing Victims of War Trauma Center in Cameroon, and Non-Violent Peace Education in Liberia
Professional career
Leymah Gbowee is the executive director of the Women Peace and Security Network Africa, based in Accra, Ghana and acts to build relationships across the West African sub-region in support of women’s capacity to prevent, avert, and end conflicts. She is a founding member and former coordinator of the Women in Peacebuilding Program/West African Network for Peacebuilding (WIPNET/WANEP). She also served as the commissioner-designate for the Liberia Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Works
Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War, Beast Books (September 13, 2011), ISBN 978-0984295159
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