Jody Williams received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work to ban landmines through the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which shared the Peace Prize with her that year.
At that time, she became only the tenth woman in its almost 100-year history to receive the Prize. As its sole staff member, Jody played a pivotal role in the growth of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines from two organizations to over 1,300 organizations globally, leading to the international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines in 1997.
Jody has been a life-long advocate of freedom, self-determination and human and civil rights. She is an ardent advocate for peace which is defined by human, not national, security and goes far beyond the absence of armed conflict.
In 2006 Jody Williams co-founded the Nobel Women's Initiative, which she chairs to this day, where she works together with other women Nobel Peace Prize laureates to elevate the voices and support the work of women peace activists around the world.
Jody Williams continues to be recognized for her contributions to human rights and global security. She is the recipient of fifteen honorary degrees, among other recognitions. In 2004, Jody was named one of the 100 most powerful women in the world by Forbes Magazine in the publication of its first such annual list. She holds the Sam and Cele Keeper Endowed Professorship in Peace and Social Justice at the Graduate College of Social Work at the University of Houston where she has been teaching since 2003.
Jody's memoir on life as a grassroots activist, My Name is Jody Williams: A Vermont Girl’s Winding Path to the Nobel Peace Prize was released by the University of California Press in early 2013.