The significance of the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to three women from the global south extends way beyond the Arab world and Africa.

On Saturday I was in Oslo with two of my sisters from Africa, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman, to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of — according to the Nobel Prize committee members — our “non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work.”

First there was only one: Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, University of the Philippines professor of political science, the lone woman in the Philippine Government (GPH)-Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace negotiations, representing GPH.

Anyone lucky enough to be teaching peace studies courses soon notices that more females are in the classes than males. Many, many more. Noticeable also is that women tend to write more passionate papers, ask more cogent questions and know how to keep class discussions lively. Puzzled by all this, I explained it away by theorizing that it must be genetic: Women have a peace gene floating around inside them.

History was made in Oslo on Saturday, when the eyes of the world watched as three great women received the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize. These women -- President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, Leymah Gbowee of Liberia, and Tawakkol Karman of Yemen -- risked their lives to stand for peace and refused to accept a world of violence, oppression, and injustice.

The fact that within a period of one month Pakistan has passed three pro-women bills can be considered a tremendous accomplishment. The Senate has unanimously approved and passed two more bills that were pending in the Assembly since 2008. The ambience in the Senate was overwhelming and awe-inspiring as besides civil society members, survivors of acid attacks had also been invited and emotional speeches were made in support of these victims.

According to data from the Kosovo Police's Human Rights Department, there were 9,772 police-documented cases of domestic violence between 2002 and 2009 – over 1,000 episodes per year in a country with a population well below 2 million, according to the most recent census. Out of those cases, almost 80 percent of victims are women and nine perpetrators out of ten are men.

For years, a Bay Area couple had been trying to publicize the danger that dissidents from their native Iran faced at a camp across the border in Iraq. Then, in April, Parviz and Ensieh Yazdanpanah's greatest fear came true in a very personal way: Their adopted daughter was one of three dozen unarmed people killed at Camp Ashraf by Iraqi troops.

Activists warned the government Tuesday against failing to adopt a new electoral law that would provide better representation during national parliamentary elections, saying that repeating past mistakes would further divide the country along sectarian lines.

“My sisters my daughters my friends, find your voice.” That was the message from Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as she received her Nobel Peace Prize this weekend.