Woman of the Week: Rigoberta Menchú Tum

An indigenous Guatemalan woman of the K’iche’ branch of the Mayan culture, Rigoberta Menchú has dedicated her life to promoting the rights of indigenous peoples. She became active in the women’s rights movement as a teenager and later was a prominent workers’ rights advocate.

In 1992 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her work for social justice and ethno-cultural reconciliation for indigenous peoples in Guatemala and is the first indigenous person to receive the prize. In 2006, Menchú was one of the founders of the Nobel Women’s Initiative, a group of female Laureates who work together to strengthen women’s rights worldwide.