Liberia had just come through fourteen years of civil war when it elected her. In November 2005, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf won the presidential run-off against the footballer George Weah, and in January 2006 she was sworn in as the first elected female head of state in Africa.
Monrovia and Harvard
Johnson Sirleaf was born in Monrovia in 1938. She studied in the United States, including at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and built a career as an economist.
Prison and exile
She served as finance minister in the government of William Tolbert in the late 1970s. After Samuel Doe’s 1980 coup, she became a critic of his regime, was imprisoned and went into exile. She worked for international banks and the United Nations.
The war years
Johnson Sirleaf initially supported Charles Taylor’s rebellion against Doe in 1989, a decision she later said she regretted. She ran against Taylor in the 1997 election and lost. Taylor’s rule brought more war, and he was forced from power in 2003.
The 2005 election
After the war, Liberia held elections in 2005. Johnson Sirleaf, nicknamed the “Iron Lady”, beat Weah in the run-off. Her victory was celebrated across Africa as a breakthrough for women in politics.
Rebuilding Liberia
Her government worked to rebuild a country with destroyed infrastructure and huge debts. Liberia secured large debt relief, and she attracted aid and investment.
Nobel Peace Prize
In 2011, Johnson Sirleaf shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and the Yemeni activist Tawakkol Karman, for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and women’s rights to full participation in peace-building.
Ebola
In 2014, an Ebola epidemic struck Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, killing thousands. Her government faced the crisis with international help. The outbreak tested the country’s fragile health system to its limits.
Criticism
Her presidency also drew criticism, including over corruption in government and the appointment of relatives to senior posts. Supporters credited her with keeping the peace.
Handing over
In 2018, she handed power to George Weah, the man she had defeated in 2005, in Liberia’s first peaceful transfer between elected leaders in decades.
Africa has since had other women presidents. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was the first to be elected, and she took office in a country that had every reason to doubt its future.
