Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Expert Spotlight

Ellen is our Woman

“Ellen is our man!” was the refrain that rang through the streets of Monrovia during Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's campaign to be Africa's first elected woman president.  Despite the slogan, many of Johnson Sirleaf's supporters attribute her victory to the fact that she is not a man.  Liberians often blame men for destroying the country and many see Johnson Sirleaf as the woman who will set things right.  Johnson Sirleaf herself has vowed to bring “motherly sensitivity and emotion to the presidency.” 

What this Harvard-educated economist also brings is decades of experience working for the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, as minister of finance for Liberia, and as head of Liberia's Governance Reform Commission.

This experience will be particularly valuable in a country that still bears fresh scars from the 14 years of civil war that have uprooted half the country's three million people and left up to 250,000 dead.  There is no national telephone network or electricity grid, no piped water, and the road network is in ruins.  Unemployment hovers around 80 percent.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf plans to change all that.  “There is no reason for the country to be so poor,” she argues.  “If we manage our resources properly and manage to create an environment that allows people to return home and attract private investment, then it will not take long for basic needs to be met.  The country is not poor, it has just had poor leadership.” 

Like many African countries, Liberia has suffered greatly at the hands of corrupt leaders who use their nation's resources and foreign aid to line their pockets and wage their wars, with little concern for the lives of their people.   

A long-standing opponent to such tyrants, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has twice been jailed, barely escaped assassination and the firing squad, and has endured forced exile.  It's not surprising that she pledges to be a leader who welcomes and seeks to work with her opposition.

Women around the world have proven particularly adept at building bridges and working across ethnic, religious, and ideological divides.  This is certainly true of Johnson Sirleaf who speaks strongly of her commitment to what she calls “a spirit of inclusion.”  Johnson Sirleaf promises, “Our government will recognize and support a strong democratic and loyal opposition in Liberia.”  A strong testament to this approach was the presence of George Weah, who ran against her and contested her victory, in the front row at Johnson Sirleaf's inauguration.

Johnson Sirleaf's desire to bring Liberians together resonates in a country where an emphasis on differences has fed conflict.  Liberia was founded in 1847 by a small group of freed American slaves who ran the country of mostly indigenous Africans.  Social inequalities between the two groups led to much of the political strife that first exploded in 1980.  To begin the process of reconciliation, President Johnson Sirleaf wants to “bring all Liberians together as Liberians,” and create a national identity.  Her first step in this effort will be to put together a government that reflects the diversity of the country. 

As the first elected woman president in Africa, President Johnson Sirleaf offers hope to a nation nearly destroyed by corruption: hope in the form of a development agenda backed by stringent anti-corruption measures.  In her inaugural address, the newly-elected president pledged, “Corruption, under my administration, will be the major public enemy.”  She went on to say, “Everyone appointed to high positions of public trust, such as in the cabinet and heads of public corporations, will be required to declare their assets.”  She then promised to be the first to comply.  In Liberia, such transparency and accountability is ground breaking.

President Johnson Sirleaf offers a very real hope not only to the Liberian people, but also to the women of Africa.  In a widely patriarchal society, African women have been advancing to the forefront of politics for the last decade.  In Rwanda, women now make up 49 percent of the parliament.  In Somalia, women have formed their own clan to break into the positions of power.  President Johnson Sirleaf is not without company among women in Africa, but she holds the most visible role.  The “Iron Lady,” as Johnson Sirleaf is also known, has recognized African women's tireless labor for peace, and has promised “to give Liberian women prominence in all affairs of our country...[and to] empower Liberian women in all areas of our national life.”

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