Searching for women...

A typical Toronto Star-type piece. An ridiculous search to find women who can win the Nobel Peace Price.

Women are known as history's peacemakers. But, for more than a century, the world's top peace prize, the Nobel, has been dominated by men.

An international network of activists is hoping to reverse that trend. This week they nominated 1,000 women to symbolically share the 2005 prize, including 10 Canadians. Among them is United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour.

"We started with twice that number of nominations, and it was very difficult to choose the finalists," says Rebecca Vermot, who spearheaded the campaign from Berne, Switzerland with her mother, Swiss parliamentarian Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold.

"We know there are many more women around the world who are doing wonderful work but we don't hear about them because there is no communication in the places where they live," Vermot said in a phone interview.

Since the Nobel Peace Prize was launched in 1901, only 12 women have received it, raising objections from human rights advocates. But during the past two years the committee has been actively seeking female winners, choosing Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai last year, and Iranian activist Shirin Ebadi in 2003.

Neither was a household name — nor are most of this year's 1,000 nominees. Women often work in anonymity, the campaigners say, even on the front lines of conflict and civil struggle. Arbour is one of the best known on the list, along with American writer and activist Grace Paley and Palestinian politician and rights advocate Hanan Ashrawi.

Hanan Ashrawi???? She's the loudmouth spokesperson for the Palestinians who just berates Israel at every opportunity. She's lied continually - her biggest one denying that the Palestinians celebrated 9/11.