Last March, a Western diplomat in Cairo explained to me that if women were not properly integrated into Egyptian society, with all due respect to the so-called Arab Spring, the chances for successful democracy in Egypt were slim. One week ago, I wrote -- and I admit it was excitedly -- about the revolutionary step taken by King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia in granting Saudi women the right to vote and be elected to municipal offices beginning in 2015. Get the Israel Hayom newsletter sent to your mailbox! Maybe that step in Saudi Arabia made it more logical to grant this year's Nobel Peace Prize to women who contributed to the advancement of democracy in the world. Even the West had to overcome its suppression of women at a relatively late stage, finally granting them suffrage and enabling the West to move forward in its development. But one cannot help pondering once again if at the panel in Oslo, as in 2009, more emphasis was placed on intentions than actual results, at least when it comes to the lady from Yemen. The expectation this year was that the prize would be given to a blogger or human rights activist from Tunisia or Egypt, where a leader was ousted. But in Oslo, they chose someone from Yemen, a country in which the outcome of the current popular uprising is still uncertain. The uprising there may in the end lead to outright civil war, despite many promises made by Yemen's President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to step down. But in Oslo, they couldn't pass up the opportunity. Tawakul Karman, 32, is both a woman and a member of an Islamic party in Yemen. Karman wants to prove that women can be religious and at the same time enthusiastically support human rights, freedom and especially democracy. As The New York Times put it on Saturday, the Yemenite lady won the prize more for the hope of a better future than for any concrete achievement. The paper called it wishful thinking. Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first female president in Africa, and Leymah Gbowee, a Liberian human rights activist, also won the prize, and those of us who are familiar with Liberia can only bless their efforts and success. Sirleaf heard of her win four days before elections in her country. Now the Liberian opposition has acquired a dislike of Oslo as well. Only 12 women have won this prestigious prize in the past 110 years, and this is the first time three women have won it together. There is a new word from Oslo now -- no longer will we say, Have no fear, be a man; from now on, it will be, Have no fear, be a woman.
