April 1, 1940 Wangari Muta Maathai, the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, was born in Nyeri District, Kenya. Maathai earned her Bachelor of Science degree with a major in biology and minor in chemistry and German from Mount St. Scholastica College (now Benedictine College) in 1964 and her Master of Science degree in biological sciences from the University of Pittsburgh in 1966. In 1971, Maathai became the first East African woman to receive a Ph. D. when she earned her Doctor of Anatomy degree from the University College of Nairobi. She also taught at the university where she campaigned for equal benefits for women on the staff. Maathai also worked with the Kenya Red Cross Society and the Environment Liaison Centre where she came to believe that the root of most of Kenya’s problems was environmental degradation. In 1977, she led the planting of the first trees to conserve the environment in what became the Green Belt Movement. She encouraged, and paid a small stipend to, women to plant tree nurseries throughout Kenya. In 2002, she was elected to parliament and appointed assistant minister in the Ministry for Environment and Natural Resources, a position she held until 2005. On October 8, 2004, it was announced that Maathai had won the Nobel Peace Prize for her “contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace,” the first African woman and environmentalist to win the prize.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 13:22:49 +0000
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