Ebadi defies history with Peace Prize

In the 83 Nobel Peace Prize awards since 1901, only 11 women were deemed worthy of the prize, compared with 79 men, most of whom hail from the United States, France or Britain.

The short list of female laureates begins in 1905, when Austrian writer and peace activist Bertha von Suttner took the honour.

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American sociologist Jane Addams, who headed the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, was next, in 1931.

More recent female winners are Mother Teresa, a nun working in the slums of Calcutta, in 1979, Burmese opposition figure Aung San Suu Kyi, in 1991, and Guatemalan Indian Rigoberta Menchu, in 1992.

The United States heads the countries list with 20 awards, followed by France with nine, Britain with eight and Sweden with five.

Germany, South Africa, Belgium and Northern Ireland have each taken four awards, Switzerland three, and there are two laureates each from the former Soviet Union, East Timor, Israel and Argentina.

Some 20 countries have won the coveted prize once, including Vietnam, Japan, Burma, Poland, Egypt, India, Tibet and, now, Iran.

International organizations have had a large share of peace prizes, taking 19 awards. They include the United Nations, in 2001, the UN Peacekeeping Forces, in 1998, and the Red Cross, in 1963.

International organisations' leaders have sometimes been singled out. Current UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan won the prize in 2001, and one of his predecessors, the late Dag Hammarskjoeld, was given the prize posthumously, in 1961.