16 of History's Most Rebellious Women
Tawakul Karman, Yemen
Tawakul Karman, a 32-year-old mother of three and chair of Women Journalists Without Chains — a Yemeni group that defends human rights and freedom of expression — was filled with renewed energy watching the people of Tunisia and Egypt fight for democracy in January 2011. But her struggle to pressure Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh — who has been in power since 1978 — to step down began long before Tunisia's revolution started a domino effect in the Arab world. Karman has been protesting in front of Sana'a University, in the nation's capital, every Tuesday since 2007. She insists upon a peaceful approach to bring about change. Still, she has been arrested several times, including in late January, when protests broke out across Yemen, where 40% of the 23 million citizens live on $2 a day or less. Saleh has offered to resign once his term ends in 2013, but on March 4, he rejected a transition plan to democracy. Yemenis, including Karman, want change now. In February, Karman told TIME, "The goal is to change the regime by the slogan we learned from the Tunisian revolution: 'The people want the regime to fall.' " —Frances Romero