When the Nobel Committee announced on October 8 2004 in Oslo that it had decided to award its
Peace Prize to an environmentalist many people were perplexed. Unable to fathom what an
environmentalist and a peace prize had in common these observers were surprised to learn that
an environmentalist won during a time when the war against terrorism was raging in Iraq and
Afghanistan and North Korea and Iran were attempting to procure nuclear weaponsarsenals.
Besides this unusual international context there was a record field of 194 nominees among them
U.S. President George W. Bush British Premier Tony Blair and Pope John Paul II(Women and
Gender 2004). Despite these impossible odds the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize went to Wangari
Maathai from the Green Belt Movement (GBM) in Kenya. In its press release thecommittee noted
that the prize was awarded to Maathai
