Prize winner profiles

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: Liberian president

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is Africa's first and only female elected head of state. She is a woman who has confidently governed the international stage for a long time. The 72-year-old's career has been meteoric. She started out with a scholarship to study economics at Harvard. This paved the way for her to take on roles at the World Bank and the United Nations.

She went on to carve a reputation for herself as a firm financial politician, which later earned her the nickname "Iron Lady." She is moral, strong-willed and stubborn - all the right qualities for a job in politics.

Sirleaf reached the pinnacle of her career when she was sworn in as the first female head of state in Liberia in 2006. At the time, Liberia had only just emerged from a 14-year civil war in which a quarter of a million people lost their lives. Liberia was traumatized, countless women had been raped, the infrastructure was destroyed and there was no water or electricity.

Sirleaf found a way to unite a country that had only known destruction. She gave people another vision of the future. According to Betty Arsen, a saleswoman in the capital, Monrovia, the fact that Sirleaf was a woman motivated other women to begin to become engaged in politics. "We voted for Madam Sirleaf in the hope that she would help women."

During her campaign she promised zero tolerance on corruption and went on to achieve many of her election promises during her first term as president. She secured debt relief for Liberia in excess of $4 billion. She also managed to convince investors that it was worth investing in a country that was small yet rich in natural resources. Under Sirleaf's leadership the export ban on diamonds and precious wood was also lifted.

But the distinguished career of the African stateswoman has not been without controversy. A report from Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission accused her of backing the war criminal-turned-president Charles Taylor in the 1980s. Sirleaf has always denied the allegations, however, saying she turned her back on Taylor when his crimes became apparent.

The Nobel Peace Prize has come at a critical time for Sirleaf. She is currently in the midst of an election campaign with Liberian presidential and parliamentary elections due to be held on Tuesday. It's believed that the award could influence the outcome of the election.

Leymah Roberta Gbowee: Liberian peace activist

Leymah Gbowee was 17 when war broke out in Liberia in 1989. She had just finished high school when the warlord Charles Taylor overthrew the then-president Samuel Doe. The world of the young woman, due to begin studying medicine, collapsed. From that point, Leymah Gbowee's life became entwined with the fate of her country.

When Charles Taylor became president in 1997 and the brutal conflict in Liberia escalated, Gbowee decided she would fight for peace with the women of her country. The young woman, who until that point had cared for victims of the civil war, quickly found supporters for her cause. Both Christians and Muslims joined Gbowee at rallies and peaceful demonstrations.

The women soon became known for wearing white T-shirts as a symbol of peace during prayers and protest actions. "It is about an army of women in white standing up when no one else would - unafraid because the worst things imaginable had already happened to us," Gbowee wrote in her autobiography.

Many Liberians believe that the civil war, which resulted in the deaths of over 250,000 people, could still have been going on today if it had not been for the "Women in White."

In 2002 Gbowee founded the movement Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace. She caused a sensation by advocating "sex-strike" action which inspired Liberian women to abstain from sex to persuade men to engage in peaceful politics.

In 2004 Gbowee was appointed to Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which aimed to foster dialogue and stability. Two years later she became an advisor to the Women Peace and Security Network. Today she leads the organization from its headquarters in Ghana's capital, Accra, where she lives with her family.

Tawakkul Karman: Yemeni human rights and democracy activist

Tawakkul Karman, a woman who is rarely photographed without her megaphone, is one of the most energetic and courageous democracy and human rights activists in Yemen. Men and women alike are counted among her followers, some of whom call her the "Mother of the Revolution."

The 32-year-old has for several years been fighting against the rule of President Ali-Abdullah Saleh, who has governed a country threatened by destitution, tribal rivalries, separatism and terrorism for 32 years.

Since 2007 Karman has organized weekly protests outside government buildings in the capital Sanaa. As a result she has been arrested by security forces and jailed on more than one occasion. "We will not be intimidated," she explained in an interview with the German daily Tagesspiegel in early October.

That was when President Saleh - who demonstrators believed they had successfully prompted to flee the country - had only just returned from Saudi Arabia. With heavy sarcasm Karman praised it as a "godsend." "Now he can't escape us," she said. "Now we can put him and his son on trial."

As a woman in Yemen, propelling yourself to the peak of the Yemeni democracy movement is no simple task. Yemen is extremely conservative, even in comparison to most other Arab states. Under the influence of tradition or supposed religious regulations women are often treated as second-class citizens. Cases of under-age girls entering into forced marriages often make the headlines.

As a blogger and co-founder of the organization Journalists Without Chains, Karman supports the interests of fellow women. For years she has called for women to fill at least one-third of all public jobs in Yemen.

Upon hearing that she had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, she described it as a victory for the Arab democracy movement as a whole. She called it a signal that the era of authoritarian rulers was coming to an end in the region.

The Nobel Prize Committee honored her role as an advocate for peaceful change. Karman and her supporters remain as separate as possible from the bloody clashes between forces loyal to President Saleh and his rivals in breakaway tribes.

Authors: Stefanie Duckstein, Rainer Sollich, Katrin Ogunsade /ccp
Editor: Nancy Isenson