Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Liberia's Iron Lady and first elected female head of state in Africa.
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PMO Barbados · via Wikipedia: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf · Public domain
Ellen Eugenia Johnson Sirleaf (née Johnson; born 29 October 1938) is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa.
Lore & Background
Sirleaf was born in Monrovia to a Gola father and Kru-German mother. She was educated at the College of West Africa. She earned an associate degree in Accounting at Madison Business College, a BA in economics from the University of Colorado Boulder, and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School. She served as Deputy Minister of Finance from 1973 to 1974 and as Minister of Finance from 1979 to 1980.
After Samuel Doe's coup, she fled to the United States, worked for Citibank and Equator Bank, and later returned to Liberia. She was arrested in 1985 for criticizing the military government and sentenced to ten years in prison but was released. She finished second in the 1997 presidential election, won the 2005 and 2011 presidential elections, and served as president from 2006 to 2018. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 and was elected Chair of ECOWAS in 2016.
Reader's Guide
Sirleaf is known as Africa's Iron Lady. She was the first woman in Africa elected as president of her country. She does not identify as Americo-Liberian, though she is considered culturally Americo-Liberian. Her father was the first Liberian from an indigenous ethnic group elected to the national legislature.
Did You Know?
- She was the first woman to hold the position of Chair of the Economic Community of West African States.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes her election historic in African politics?
Her 2005 victory marked the first time any woman on the African continent was elected as head of state, a milestone no other African country had reached at that point.
Why did she receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011?
The committee recognized her sustained work in drawing women into peacekeeping and conflict-resolution efforts, and she shared the award with fellow activists Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman.
What was her professional background before entering politics?
She built a long career in economics and international finance, including stints at the World Bank and the United Nations, before turning her full attention to Liberian governance.
How did her presidency conclude?
After serving two full terms spanning twelve years, she stepped down in January 2018, having guided Liberia through a period of post-war reconstruction and institutional rebuilding.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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