Leymah Gbowee
Leymah Gbowee
Leymah Roberta Gboweeis a Liberian peace activist responsible for leading a women's peace movement, Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace that helped bring an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. Her efforts to end the war, along with her collaborator Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, helped usher in a period of peace and enabled a free election in 2005 that Sirleaf won. She, along with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Tawakkul Karman, were awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize...
NationalityLiberian
ProfessionCivil Rights Leader
Date of Birth1 February 1972
CountryLiberia
Leymah Gbowee quotes about
There is something in this world that every individual can do. God has created all of us with something unique to contribute.
When women gather, great things will happen.
It's insulting when outsiders come in and tell a traumatized people what it will take for them to heal... People who have lived through a terrible conflict may be hungry and desperate, but they are not stupid. They often have very good ideas about how peace can evolve, and they need to be asked. That includes women. Most especially women.
Sometimes, people call my way of speaking ranting. Why are you always ranting and screaming, they ask. But here’s the thing…the reason why I rant is because I am a voice for many women that cannot speak out to heads of state, UN officials, and those that influence systems of oppression. And so I rant. And I will not stop ranting until my mission of equality of all girls is achieved.
The world is upside down, it's going to take a lot of hands to turn it right side up.
We must continue to unite in sisterhood to turn our tears into triumph. There is no time to rest until our world achieves wholeness and balance, where all men and women are considered equal and free.
Leadership is standing with your people. People say you have to live to fight another day, but sometimes you have to show you are a true leader.
Don't wait for a Gandhi, don't wait for a King, don't wait for a Mandela. You are your own Mandela, you are your own Gandhi, you are your own King.
I'm now on a journey to fulfill the wish, in my tiny capacity, of little African girls.
When the guilty verdict was handed down, I walked outside and saw a rainbow encircling the sun. Everyone in Monrovia could see it. It was a hot day, 80 or 90 degrees. I don't remember seeing any raindrops fall. I thought, this is a sign.
Regardless of whom you pray to, during war our experiences as a community and as mothers are the same.
I'm a serious optimist. I come from a country where you have little to be hopeful for, and so you have to always be an optimist.
I don't feel like I've done anything extraordinary but take my little light and shine it in darkness.
We go into rural communities, and all we do - like has been done in this room [at TED] - is create the space. When these girls sit ... you unlock great leaders.