{"id":382,"date":"2020-08-30T20:16:17","date_gmt":"2020-08-30T20:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/?p=382"},"modified":"2020-08-30T20:16:18","modified_gmt":"2020-08-30T20:16:18","slug":"drawing-inspiration-from-women-peacebuilders-wangari-muta-maathai-nobel-peace-prize-winner-2004","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/2020\/08\/30\/drawing-inspiration-from-women-peacebuilders-wangari-muta-maathai-nobel-peace-prize-winner-2004\/","title":{"rendered":"Drawing Inspiration from Women Peacebuilders: Wangari Muta Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, 2004"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cAfrican women, in general, need to know that it\u2019s OK for them to be the way they are \u2013 to see the way they are as a strength and to be liberated from fear and silence\u201d – Wangari Muta Maathai<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nis a society without women? Have you ever imagined the existence of the\nuniverse without them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nactive contribution of the strengths and skills of women would create a more\ndeveloped society. For instance, research by Forbes has revealed that\ncountries, where the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been contained, have women\nas the head of their governments. Thus, women play great roles in the immediate\nsociety they find themselves and the world at large when given the chance to do\nso. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women\nhave played very important roles in peacebuilding as well. Indeed, Wangari Muta\nMaathai is an excellent example of women peacebuilders who have made an impact\nunder difficult conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wangari\nwas awarded the Nobel Peace Prize of 2004 for her contribution to \u201csustainable\ndevelopment, democracy and peace\u201d becoming the first black African woman to\nreceive the prestigious honour. She was a political activist, environmentalist\nand prolific writer. Born in 1940 in Kenya, Wangari obtained her Bachelor\u2019s\ndegree in Biology from Mount St Scholastica and Master\u2019s degree in Biological\nSciences from the University of Pittsburgh both in the United States. She went\non to get a PhD in Veterinary Anatomy from the University of Kenya becoming the\nfirst woman in East and Central Africa to do so. She began a career in the\nDepartment of Veterinary Anatomy and became an associate professor in\n1977.  A hardworking woman, Wangari\u2019s\nactivism in favour of women development led her to become the Chairman of the\nNational Council of Women in Kenya. She was able to effortlessly attain\nwork-life balance by combining her professional achievements with raising a\nfamily. Wangari passed away in September 2011 after raising the bar for African\nwomen.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wangari was a major force to be reckoned with the Kenyan political space serving as an opposition politician to the Daniel Arap Moi\u2019s regime. She founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977 to fight deforestation which threatened the means of subsistence of the agricultural population in Kenya. Through the movement, she advocated for the planting of trees and adoption of ecological best practices thus becoming an inspiration for tree-planting campaigns across the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Wangari\u2019s\nlife and work showcase several lessons that we could imbibe as young\npeacebuilders:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1)         Active\nparticipation locally and internationally:<\/strong> Wangari was influential in\nfighting for democracy and conservation in her local context in Kenya but she\nwas also very committed internationally. She served on the boards of different\norganizations including the United Nation\u2019s Secretary-General Advisory Board on\nDisarmament where she volunteered to provide counsel to the Secretary-General\non matters relating to Register of Conventional Arms, good governance and\npeacebuilding in West Africa, anti-personnel land mines and small arms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2)         Fight\nto protect the environment:<\/strong> Environmental conversation is a practice by\nwhich humans save their immediate environment from disintegrating. When an\nenvironment is conserved, it is obtainable that plants and animals will\nflourish accordingly since humans depend on them for survival. This kind of\nfailure in the ecosystem can come in different forms such as loss of animals of\ndifferent species, pollution of all kinds and human activities. Maathai was as\nwell an advocate for human rights issues about women and the prevention of\nAIDS.  Whatever our primary focuses as\npeacebuilders, we must include the environmental dimension to ensure our planet\nis more sustainable and safe for future generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3)         Empower\nwomen and girls<\/strong>: Wangari did not shy away from participating actively in\npolitics despite her gender thus leading to her success with her sweeping\nvictory in the Kenyan National Assembly in 2002. She went on to become the\nAssistant Minister of Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife in her\ncountry. Women and girls have a lot to offer that is often swept under the\ncarpet particularly in the patriarchal nature of African societies.\nPeacebuilders should focus on educating the girl child and ensuring a level\nplaying field for women to contribute to the development of their societies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4)\u00a0Think globally and act locally:<\/strong> Wangari embodied this idea of thinking globally and acting locally. Her local organisation, Green Belt Movement inspired village women to plant trees in their local community was just her local idea of beautifying the community. By focusing on making a change in her local context, Wangari got the chance to create a global impact on environmental conservation and democracy. As peacebuilders, no matter the role you are playing in the various institutions where you belong, effortlessly put in your best no matter how hard it may seem as you never know when the international spotlight would shine on you just like it did on Wangari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written By:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anthonia Folashade Adetayo,
Member, Welfare Unit,
Building Blocks for Peace Foundation<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAfrican women, in general, need to know that it\u2019s OK for them to be the way they are \u2013 to see the way they are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[49,23,11,51,9,8,7],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":385,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382\/revisions\/385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/lessonsfrompeacebuilders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}