Maria Corina Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize Continues a Powerful Legacy for Women Democracy Advocates

The recent decision by the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the Peace Prize to Maria Corina Machado marks a significant moment, adding her name to a growing list of extraordinary women recognized for their unwavering commitment to democracy. Just last year, in 2023, Iran’s Narges Mohammadi received the prestigious award for her tireless advocacy for women’s rights. The committee hailed her as a powerful symbol of freedom and a leading figure in the fight against Iran’s theocratic regime. Looking back to 1991, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from Myanmar was honored for her peaceful, nonviolent efforts to establish democracy and uphold human rights. Remarkably, both Ms. Mohammadi, now 53, and Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, 80, were incarcerated when they received their Nobel accolades—and tragically, they remain imprisoned today, with reports indicating deteriorating health for both. Ms. Mohammadi previously held a leadership role at the Defenders of Human Rights Center, an organization dedicated to advancing democracy and women’s rights. Shirin Ebadi, a human rights lawyer who founded the center and mentored Ms. Mohammadi, was herself a Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 2003. Her activism began early; at just 19, Iran’s morality police arrested Ms. Mohammadi for the simple act of wearing an orange coat. This detail comes from her own speech prepared for the Peace Prize acceptance, which, like Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s, was delivered by her children on her behalf. Following this initial arrest, Ms. Mohammadi endured over a dozen more detentions and is currently serving a ten-year sentence for “spreading anti-state propaganda.” During a brief release for surgery last year, she was seen on video defiantly chanting the rallying cry of Iran’s female-led uprising, “Women, life, freedom!” — notably without wearing the compulsory hijab, a direct challenge to Iranian law. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of modern Myanmar’s revered founding father, stepped onto the political stage in 1988 amid the ruling junta’s violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations. She rose to lead the National League for Democracy party, which decisively won the 1990 elections—only to have the results dismissed by the military establishment. She then spent nearly two decades under house arrest, finally gaining her freedom in 2010. As a new generation of generals began a tentative political thaw, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi was elected to Parliament and eventually became Myanmar’s de facto leader. However, following her party’s overwhelming victory in the 2020 elections, the military once again seized power in a coup, imprisoning her and hundreds of other pro-democracy figures. Today, Myanmar is tragically consumed by civil war. Beyond these notable figures, other remarkable women have also received the Peace Prize for their tireless work in democracy and women’s rights. These include Tawakkol Karman of Yemen, and the Liberian leaders Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee, who were jointly awarded in 2011.