Closing Plenary

Gender played a central role as the 20th Annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum drew to a close on National Women’s with one last plenary session featuring a conversation with Muhammad Yunus, Professor Ole Mjøs and Nicholas Kristof. Facilitated by John Ydstie of National Public Radio, the conversation began with a discussion about the role that gender inequality plays in moving toward world peace.

Although the panel was completely comprised of men, the speakers unanimously agreed that gender is a big issue, and women are too often overlooked when it comes to peace making and development issues.

“Girls aren’t the problem. They are the solution,” said Muhammad Yunus.

Kristof made a point of commemorating Yunus for both his successes in gender equality issues and working toward world peace through the Grameen Bank. Women are literally at the core of the Grameen bank, which is owned by poor women, the same demographic to which the bank lends its money. More than 97 percent of Grameen loans have gone to women in approximately 80,949 villages since its inception in 1976.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee, of which Mjøs is chair, also recognized the importance of gender equality in the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize announcement:

“Economic growth and political democracy can not achieve their full potential unless the female half of humanity participates on an equal footing with the male.”

Yunus and Mjøs chuckled at the memory of the nine Bangladeshi women bundled up in winter weather clothing as they flew to Norway as Nobel laureates to receive the 2006 Peace Prize for the Grameen bank, only to find a complete lack of snow. While the panelists joked about how the women would have been better off making a trip to Fargo-Moorhead if they really wanted to see snow, all recognized how vital women are in the quest to promote peace worldwide.