Editing History of Liberia (section)

===Women of Liberia===
{{Main|Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace}}
[[File:LiberianWomen.jpg|thumb|320px|[[Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace]].]]
In 2002, the women in Liberia were tired of seeing their country torn apart. Organized by social worker [[Leymah Gbowee]], women started gathering and praying in a fish market to protest the violence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.odemagazine.com/blogs/readers_blog/9001/leymah_gbowee_peace_warrior_for_liberia_2009|title=eymah_gbowee_peace_warrior_for_liberia 2009}}{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> They organized the Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET), and issued a statement of intent: <blockquote>"In the past we were silent, but after being killed, raped, dehumanized, and infected with diseases, and watching our children and families destroyed, war has taught us that the future lies in saying NO to violence and YES to peace! We will not relent until peace prevails."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=womens_peace_movement_liberia_08|title=Womens peace movement of liberia|access-date=April 27, 2010|archive-date=February 23, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223130725/http://www.myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=womens_peace_movement_liberia_08|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>Joined by the Liberian Muslim Women's Organization, Christian women and their allies created [[Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace]].<ref>{{cite web |title=United Nations Radio |url=http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/detail/64653.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225063024/http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/detail/64653.html |archive-date=February 25, 2012 |access-date=April 27, 2010}}</ref> They wore white to symbolize peace, staged silent [[nonviolence]] protests and forced a meeting with Taylor and extracted a promise from him to attend peace talks in Ghana.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.americanprogress.org/events/2008/11/inf/GboweeLeymah.html |title=Bio of Gbowee Leymah |access-date=April 27, 2010 |archive-date=May 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514084736/http://www.americanprogress.org/events/2008/11/inf/GboweeLeymah.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2003, a delegation of Liberian women went to Ghana to continue to apply pressure on the warring factions during the peace process. They staged a [[sit-in]] outside of the Presidential Palace, blocking all the doors and windows and preventing anyone from leaving the peace talks without a resolution. Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace became a political force against violence and against their government.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.guideposts.com/blog/life-faith-liberia-peace-movement-women|title= Guideposts review|access-date= April 27, 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091113053300/http://www.guideposts.com/blog/life-faith-liberia-peace-movement-women|archive-date= November 13, 2009|url-status= dead}}</ref> Their actions brought about an agreement during the stalled peace talks. As a result, the women were able to achieve peace in Liberia after a 14-year civil war and later helped bring to power the country's first female head of state, Johnson Sirleaf.