Leymah Gbowee to address “Leading Change Through Activism: The Liberian Women’s Experience” on September 16. Author Bill Bryson to speak on February 23.
In corners of the world filled with hatred, chaos, and crimes against humanity, Leymah Gbowee leads women to wreak their own kind of havoc—that of a peaceful, feminine variety.
So if resolving conflict means calling for a sex strike in Liberia or pushing for reconciliation by crossing the heavily guarded Korean demilitarized zone, then she’s ready to use every weapon in her arsenal.
Gbowee—2011 Nobel Peace Laureate, author, and human rights activist—will address her ongoing international peace efforts at the Alfond Sports Center on September 16 at 7:30 p.m. Her speech, free and open to the public, kicks off the eighth season of the Rollins Winter Park Institute (RWPI).
“The audience should expect an honest conversation about the state of the world from my perspective and my experience,” Gbowee says. “I try not to do ‘feel good’ conversations, but rather give people an honest picture of peace and social justice issues. There will be a lot of practical examples and stories about my engagement in different parts of the world.”
‘Sex Strike … a Fresh Motive to Press for Peace’
Born in Liberia, Gbowee experienced the brutal effects of a civil war in which an estimated 400,000 people died, children were drafted as soldiers, and mass atrocities were committed against women and civilians. In 2002, she began unifying Christian and Muslim women in demonstrations that would eventually topple the dictatorship of warlord Charles Taylor and lead to the election of Africa’s first female head of state.
One of Gbowee’s methods that caught the media’s attention and helped generate global awareness was convincing Liberia’s women to refuse sex with their husbands until the violence and civil strife ended.
“‘Sex Strike’ is the headline that sells, so when reporters interview me, they tend to ask about the sex strike first,” Gbowee wrote in a column for The Daily Beast in 2010. “Did the women of Liberia really bring an end to the heinous civil war by withholding sex? Well, it certainly gave the men a fresh motive to press for peace.”
While Gbowee’s peace efforts focus primarily on Africa—she lives in Ghana and is president of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa—lately, she’s been making news on another continent. In May, Gbowee joined 29 other female peace activists from 15 countries, including feminist leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Gloria Steinem, on a rare crossing between North and South Korea, bitterly divided since a truce halted armed conflict in 1953.
The group spent time in both countries to promote open dialogue, advocate for the reunification of families, and push for an enduring peace treaty.
“When it comes to women’s issues, they’re borderless,” Gbowee says. “The fight is everywhere.”
Author, Activist, Scholar
Gbowee, a 43-year-old single mother of six, is author of the memoir Mighty Be Our Powers and is highlighted in the award-winning documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell, which chronicles how the women of Liberia helped end the country’s civil war.
She also founded the Liberian Reconciliation Initiative, co-founded Women Peace and Security Network Africa, and holds a master’s degree in conflict transformation from Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
“Ms. Gbowee is a shining example of how action can break down walls once thought to be impenetrable,” says Gail Sinclair, executive director of RWPI. “Her work was not just significant for one place and one time but, rather, has incredible continuing relevance for religious, cultural, ethnic, and gender problems that continue to plague our world.”
Author Bill Bryson
Beloved on both sides of the Atlantic, author Bill Bryson—who hails from Iowa—is equally at home in America or his current residence, the United Kingdom. The movie adaption of his book A Walk in the Woods stars Robert Redford and Nick Nolte hiking the Appalachian Trail and is scheduled to hit theaters September 2.
Bryson has written a number of bestsellers that touch on travel, science, language, Shakespeare, American history, and his own childhood. In a national pool, Bryson’s Notes from a Small Island was voted the book that best represents Britain. And A Short of History of Nearly Everything won the Royal Society’s Aventis Prize as well as the Descartes Prize, the European Union’s highest literary award.
Bryson is scheduled to speak at 7 p.m. on February 23 at Knowles Memorial Chapel.
RWPI is finalizing plans to bring two more speakers to campus as part of the 2015-16 schedule. More information will be announced as it becomes available.