Shameful that more women have not won Peace Prize says Mirren

British actress Dame Helen Mirren has hailed this year’s Nobel Peace Prize award to three women as historic – but said it was shameful that only 12 women had won the prestigious award in 112 years.

Dame Helen said she thought the award marked an “extraordinary moment in the history of women”.

She was speaking before last night’s Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo, Norway, which she hosted together with American actress Rosario Dawson.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The concert honoured this year’s Peace Prize winners, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and women’s right activist Leymah Gbowee, also of Liberia, and democracy activist Tawakkul Karman of Yemen.

The line-up of artists included Yemen’s Ahmed Fathi, Liberian-born singer Miatta Fahnbulleh, David Gray, Jill Scott and the World Youth Choir.

Dame Helen said the award marked an “extraordinary moment in the history of women,” but that it was “slightly shameful statistically that only 12 women have won it in a 112 years, when you think how important women historically have always been, specifically in terms of peace.”

She said this year’s award was a historic moment, “but it is only a step on a journey that women are taking, and hopefully in 20-30 years’ time we will be looking at a very different scenario in the world”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She also said she had “witnessed first hand” the struggle of women in Uganda.

“In my personal experience, wherever there was a force for the positive, for creativity, it was almost always led by women and they are doing it with no recognition and under very difficult circumstances,” she said.

Dame Helen also pointed out that the three winners all came from small grass-root movements.

“It is so important for all of us to realise that these movements start in very, very small ways,” she said, adding that it was important for young women to have role models like this year’s Peace Prize winners.