Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams are celebrated Northern Irish peace activists. They were jointly awarded the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize for their courageous efforts in founding a grassroots movement to put an end to the sectarian conflict known as The Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Mairead Corrigan (later Maguire) was born on January 27, 1944, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and is currently alive. Betty Williams was born on May 22, 1943, also in Belfast, and died on March 17, 2020.

Their activism was ignited by a single, tragic incident in August 1976. Betty Williams, a receptionist, witnessed a car accident in which a vehicle, driven by an Irish Republican Army (IRA) fugitive who had just been shot by British security forces, mounted a pavement and killed three children of Mairead Corrigan's sister. This horrific event spurred both women to action.

Williams immediately began collecting signatures for a peace petition, quickly gathering 6,000 within two days, which gained widespread media attention. She was soon joined by Corrigan, the aunt of the deceased children. Together, they founded the Women for Peace, which later became the Community of Peace People. They organized massive, peaceful marches across Belfast and beyond, bringing together thousands of both Catholic and Protestant women to demand an end to the violence. The movement's efforts led to a temporary, significant decrease in the rate of violence in Northern Ireland and demonstrated that a path to reconciliation could be built from the grassroots level.

Despite facing hostility, death threats, and condemnation from extremists on both sides, their non-violent campaign galvanized public support for peace. Their work laid a vital, non-sectarian foundation for reconciliation during one of the most violent periods of The Troubles, and they later co-founded the Nobel Women's Initiative with other female Nobel laureates to promote peace and equality globally.