S. Waziri Hassan
Mar 7, 2024
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Iron Lady. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s First Woman President

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa's first woman president is one of the women being celebrated this Women' History month.
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In January 2006 after a long period of civil war which lasted fourteen years, The Republic of Liberia swore in Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as president. An event that marked a tremendous turning point in the history of the West African nation and Africa at large. Being the first woman ‘Elected’ president in Africa, it brought changes in the politics of the continent from the male-dominated politics to a gender balanced politics. This paved the way for other female leaders to be elected to the top office, like Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, former President of Mauritius and Sahle Work Zewde, President of Ethiopia.

Ellen Eugenia Johnson was born 1938 in Monrovia, Liberia to a Gola father and Kru-German mother. She was educated at the College of West Africa and completed her education in the United states. She attended Harvard University, Madison Business College, University of Colorado Boulder. She has numerous degrees, among them a master’s in public administration.

Ms Ellen Johnson has received several prestigious awards, including the United States presidential medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor bestowed by an American president; the Ralph Bunche International Leadership Award; and the Franklin D Roosevelt Freedom of Speech Award.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the former president of Liberia, began her groundbreaking career in the 1970s, when she became Liberia’s first woman minister of finance. After the military coup of 1980, she served as president of the Liberian Bank for Development and Investment, vice president of Citibank’s African region office in Nairobi, senior loan officer at the World bank, Vice president of Equator bank, assistant administrator and director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Bureau for Africa, with the rank of assistant secretary-general of the United Nations.

She was one of the seven internationally eminent persons designated in 1999 by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to investigate the Rwandan genocide, one of the five commission chairs for the Inter-Congolese Dialogue, and one of two international experts selected by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) to investigate and report on the effects of conflicts on women and women’s roles in peace building.

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