Nobel Peace Prize Awarded

This year's Nobel Peace Prize (worth $1.5 million) is shared by the three women pictured above. They are (from left to right):

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf -- president of Liberia, and Africa's first elected female head of state.

Leymah Gbowee -- a Liberian peace activist.

Tawakul Karman -- a leader in the democracy movement in Yemen.

The Nobel committee said these women won for their "non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work." The committee went on to say, "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 committee is absolutely right. True justice will not be achieved until women all over the world have the same rights and opportunities as men. I congratulate these women for winning the Nobel Peace Prize, and I thank them for their efforts to make this a better world for everyone.