Jody Williams Biography, Age, Nobel Peace Prize,Nobel Womens initiative, Awards

Jody Williams Biography

Jody Williams is an American political activist renown for her activism roles in banning  antipersonnel landmines as well as her defense of human rights particularly women. She has also shown efforts to promote new understandings of security in today’s world. Williams was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her determination efforts towards the banning and abolishment of anti-personnel mines.

She has been a life-long advocate of freedom, self-determination and human rights.From an early age, Jody Williams embraced natural roles of activism and empathy while defending her deaf brother.

Jody Williams Age | Birthday 

Jody was born on October 9, 1950 in Rutland, Vermont, and is 68 years old in 2019.

Jody Williams Educational Background

Williams earned her Master in International Relations in 1984 from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies which is a division of Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C. Additionally, she earned an MA in linguistics in 1976 to teach Spanish and English as a second language from the School for International Training that later renamed to SIT Graduate Institute situated in Brattleboro, Vermont. Williams earned her BA from the University of Vermont in the year 1972.

Jody Williams & The International Campaign to Ban Landmines

From early 1992 until February 1998, Williams served as the founding coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) . Prior to that work, she spent eleven years on various projects in war torn countries such as the wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador, where, according to the Encyclopedia of Human Rights, she “spent the 1980s performing life-threatening human rights work.”

In an unprecedented cooperative effort with governments, UN bodies and the International Committee of the Red Cross, Williams served as a chief strategist and spokesperson for the ICBL, which she developed from two non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with a staff of one – herself – to an international powerhouse of 1,300 NGOs in ninety countries.

Jody Williams Nobel Peace Prize

From its small beginning and official launch in 1992, Williams and the ICBL dramatically achieved the campaign’s goal of an international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines during a diplomatic conference held in Oslo in September 1997. Three weeks later, she and the ICBL were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. At that time, she became the tenth woman – and third American woman – in its almost hundred-year history to receive the Prize.

Jody Williams Nobel Women’s Initiative

In November 2004, after discussions with sister Peace Laureates Dr. Shirin Ebadi of Iran and the late Professor Wangari Maathai of Kenya, Williams took the lead to establish the Nobel Women’s Initiative that was launched in January 2006; and has gone ahead to serve as its Chair. Through this Initiative, which brings together six of the female Peace Laureates alive today, the women seek to use their access and influence to support and promote the work of women around the world working for peace with justice and equality.

Jody Williams Academic posts

Jody had  been a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Global Justice at the College since the year 2003.

Williams has also been the Sam and Cele Keeper Professor in Peace and Social Justice in the Graduate College of Social Work at the University of Houston since she started in 2007.

Jody Williams Awards & Honors

Professor Williams continues to be acknowledged  for her contributions to human rights and global security. She is the recipient of fifteen honorary degrees, among other recognitions. In 2004, in its first such listing, she was named by Forbes magazine as one of the 100 most powerful women in the world. She has twice been recognized as a “Woman of the Year” by Glamour magazine.

Jody Williams Publications |Books

Williams work includes articles for magazines and newspapers around the world such as The Irish Times, The Independent (UK), The Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, The Toronto Globe and Mail, The LA Times, La Jornada (Mexico), The Review of the International Red Cross, Columbia University’s Journal of Politics and Society

William has also been involved in the writing of numerous books such as;

• ‘This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women’ that was edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman
•  A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, and A Prayer, edited by Eve Ensler;
• Lessons from our Fathers, by Keith McDermott;
• Girls Like Us: 40 Extraordinary Women Celebrate Girlhood in Story, Poetry and Song, by Gina Misiroglu.
• The Way We Will be 50 Years from Today: 60 of the World’s Greatest Minds Share Their Visions of the Next Half-Century, edited by Mike Wallace.
• Williams was also involved in the writing of a seminal book on the landmine crisis in 1995 titled ‘After the Guns Fall Silent: The Enduring Legacy of Landmines (Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, Washington, DC).
•  Banning Landmines: Disarmament, Citizen Diplomacy and Human Security, edited with Steve Goose and Mary Wareham, analyzes the Mine Ban Treaty and its impact on other human security- related work. It was released at the end of March 2008 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
• In March 2013, her memoir, My Name Is Jody Williams: A Vermont Girl’s Winding Path to the Nobel Peace Prize(University of California Press) was released.

Jody Williams Interview

In an interview with Real Leaders magazine in 2015, Williams is quoted as saying, “The image of peace with a dove flying over a rainbow and people holding hands singing kumbaya ends up infantilizing people who believe that sustainable peace is possible. If you think that singing and looking at a rainbow will suddenly make peace appear then you’re not capable of meaningful thought, or understanding the difficulties of the world.”

Jody Williams Twitter

Check it out!!!
https://t.co/PfUxoOXFxd

— Jody Williams (@JodyWilliams97) August 30, 2018