PROVO — The government charter in Somalia now contains the words "he or she" when referring to political leaders — small pronouns, but those few letters represent monumental progress for women's rights in the African nation.

"To me that is a giant step toward the emancipation of women, to have given them a rightful space in the national decision making and leadership arena," said Somalian peace activist Asha Hagi, and 2008 recipient of the "Right Livelihood Award," the alternative Nobel Peace Prize.

Hagi spoke at Brigham Young University Wednesday about the challenging, painful process to build peace in a warring, male-dominated country, but reminded those present, especially the women, that their voices are powerful.

"Women add immense value to the peace process," she said. "They bring in compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, patience, and all these are the basic tenets for true reconciliation."

Hagi has devoted her life to securing rights and a voice for Somali women who have been traditionally left out of politics under the five-clan, patriarchal system.

In 1992, toward the beginning of the country's civil war, Hagi created "Save Somali Women and Children," the first organization of its kind to cross clan lines.

"We women did this while men were in the bush fighting or meeting to plan their next moves to defeat the other clans," she said.

The founding group members came from different clans, political affiliations and socioeconomic backgrounds, but were united in their commitment to peace and the protection of women's rights, Hagi said, noting that the civil war had nothing to offer them but death, devastation and destruction.

However, when the group came out publicly with their mission in 1994, Hagi said they were criticized by political leaders who felt threatened by their cross-clan ideologies. She even received death threats.

"We refused to stop," she said. "We actually ignored them. That is how we succeeded. Their criticisms and threats gave us the strength to remain resolute and united."

Pushing forward, in 2000 Hagi formed the group, "The Sixth Clan," a network offering women a chance to be involved in the peace negotiations.

Two years later during a conference in Kenya, with the spirit of the Sixth Clan prevalent, when the five clans each assigned a chairperson, everyone was shocked when Hagi was chosen by the men to be the representative for her home clan.

"That never happened in Somali history," she said. "So we always take that as a practical example of how the creation of the Sixth Clan changed the mind-set of Somali men toward women's participation (in politics)."

Now there are more than 30 women in the Somali Transitional Federal Parliament, where Hagi served from 2004 to 2009.

Hagi also encouraged Americans to change their own perceptions of Somalia, and not label it a lawless, pirate-filled country just because of the actions of a few.

"Look at Somalia through another lens, the humanitarian lens," she told the Deseret News. "There is courage within the despair, there is love within the hatred. There is a hope."

sisraelsen@desnews.com