Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the first woman leader of Liberia and Africa’s first female head of state.
Born in Liberia in 1938, she pursued a bachelor’s degree in accounting at Madison Business College in Madison, Wisconsin, a Master’s degree in economics at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a Master’s of public administration at Harvard University.
Upon completing her education Ms. Johnson Sirleaf returned home to Liberia to serve as the Minister of Finance from 1979 to 1980 under then President William Tolbert. A violent military coup swept the country in 1980, led by army sergeant Samuel Doe, and resulted in the assassination of President Tolbert. Johnson Sirleaf was exiled from Liberia by the new military government. She worked for several years in international banking in the United States and Kenya.
In 1985, Ms. Johnson Sirleaf returned to Liberia to run for the Senate but when she spoke out against Doe’s regime she was sentenced to 10 years in prison. She was imprisoned for part of her sentence but was eventually able to return to the United States, building a career as an economist at Citibank and the World Bank. During her second exile, Charles Taylor led a bloody revolt against Doe, overthrowing him in 1990 and becoming the new president.
Ms. Johnson Sirleaf returned to Liberia for the third time in 1997 to run against George Weah in the presidential election. She lost the election and Taylor accused her of treason. Undeterred by Taylor’s threats, she continued to advocate for the end of rampant corruption in Liberia and economic reform, eventually becoming the head of the Unity Party.
In 2005 Ms. Johnson Sirleaf successfully defeated Weah in the presidential election, becoming the first woman leader of Liberia and Africa’s first female head of state. Her first term in office was marked by progressive reform to the country’s fiscal and economic policies.
In 2011 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakel Karmanof Yemen for “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work.” Ms. Johnson Sirleaf was reelected for a second presidential term in 2011.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
BIRTHDATE
29 October 1938
EDUCATION
Madison Business College,
University of Colorado, Harvard University
PLACE OF BIRTH
Liberia
RESIDENCY
Liberia
LANGUAGES
Liberian, English
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a globally recognized economist currently serving in her second term as Minister of Finance for the Federal Republic of Nigeria. She also serves as a member of the Governing Council of Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, and is also the first woman to hold the positions of Finance Minister and Foreign Minister.
She earned her Bachelor’s degree from the International School Ibadan and Harvard University in 1977 and her Ph.D. in regional economic development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1981.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala began her career with the World Bank in 1982, joining its Young Professionals Program, and worked through the ranks to finally reach the position of Managing Director in 2007, a position she held until 2011. From 2003 to 2006, she was appointed as Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and in 2005, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala led the national negotiating team working with the Paris Club to resolve her nation’s external debt crisis.
Between 2006 and 2007, she founded and co-founded three organizations to directly benefit her region and country; these include: NOI-Gallup Polls, a for-profit indigenous polling/opinion research organization based in Abuja, Nigeria, the Makeda Fund, a $50 million private equity fund mandated to invest in African women-owned businesses, and the Centre for the Study of Economies of Africa (C-SEA), a non-profit think tank based in Abuja, Nigeria.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala has authored and co-authored three works including Chinua Achebe: Teacher of Light; The Debt Trap in Nigeria: Towards a Sustainable Debt Strategy; and Reforming the Unreformable: Lessons from Nigeria. She is the recipient of the 2006 Nigerian of the Year Award.
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NAME
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
BIRTHDATE
13 June 1954
EDUCATION
International School Ibadan, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
PLACE OF BIRTH
Ogwashi-Uku, Nigeria
RESIDENCY
Federal Republic of Nigeria
LANGUAGES
English, French, Igbo, Yoruba
Graça Machel is the only woman in history to have served as first lady of two separate republics: Mozambique from 1975 to 1986; and South Africa from 1998 to 1999.
Ms. Machel is a founding Convenor of the Elders, an independent group of global leaders who work together for peace and human rights, and President of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
She is also Chairperson of the Eminent Advisory Board of the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA); Board Chair of The Partnership for Maternal Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH); and a member of the Africa Progress Panel (APP), whose members advocate regionally and internationally at the highest levels for sustainable and equitable development in Africa.
Following Mozambique's independence in 1975, Ms. Machel was appointed Minister for Education and Culture, a position she held from 1975 to 1989. She also served as Chairperson of the National Organization of Children of Mozambique.
Ms. Machel was a delegate to the 1998 UNICEF conference in Zimbabwe and participated on the international steering committee of the 1990 World Conference on Education for All. She was appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to chair the Study on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, which later became known as the Machel Report. In 1994, she founded the Foundation for Community Development (FDC), which promotes development by increasing community access to information and technology.
Ms. Machel received the 1995 Nansen Medal from the United Nations in recognition of her longstanding humanitarian work, particularly on behalf of refugee children.
In 1997, she was made a British dame and was the recipient of InterAction’s humanitarian award. In 1998, she was one of the two winners of the North-South Prize.
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NAME
Graça Machel
BIRTHDATE
17 October 1945
EDUCATION
University of Lisbon
PLACE OF BIRTH
Portuguese East Africa (modern-day Mozambique)
RESIDENCY
Mozambique
LANGUAGES
Shangaan, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
Graça Machel
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Navanethem (Navi) Pillay
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Navanethem (Navi) Pillay
BIRTHDATE
23 September 1941
EDUCATION
University of Natal, Harvard University
PLACE OF BIRTH
Durban, South Africa
RESIDENCY
Geneva, Switzerland
LANGUAGES
English
Navanethem (Navi) Pillay is the 16th Commissioner of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty. A well-known international jurist, Ms. Pillay served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014.
A lifelong advocate for international human rights, Ms. Pillay was the first non-white woman in Natal Province, South Africa, to open her own law practice. She played a major role in the struggle against Apartheid, serving as defense attorney for anti-Apartheid activists, and successfully suing the state to prevent police from using unlawful interrogation methods against her own husband and others detained for anti-Apartheid activities. In 1973, she won the right for political prisoners on Robben Island, including Nelson Mandela, to have access to lawyers.
Following the end of Apartheid, Ms. Pillay continued to fight for the rights of domestic violence victims and as a member of the Women’s National Coalition, contributed to the inclusion in South Africa’s Constitution of an equality clause prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of race, religion and sexual orientation.
In 1992, she co-founded the international women's rights group, Equality Now. Soon after Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa in 1994, he nominated Pillay to the country’s High Court. She was the first non-white woman to serve on the bench. Later, Ms. Pillay served as a judge on two international courts, spending eight years with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (including four years as its President) and five years as a judge on the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Each of these courts has been charged with prosecuting perpetrators responsible for the most egregious forms of human rights violations, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, and are at the forefront of the development of international criminal law and justice. Ms. Pillay left her post at the ICC to serve as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in September 2008.
In 2003, Ms. Pillay received the inaugural Gruber Prize for Women’s Rights. She has been awarded honorary degrees from Durham University, The City University of New York School of Law, the London School of Economics, Rhodes University and the University of Leuven.
Zainab Hawa Bangura
Haja Zainab Hawa Bangura currently serves as the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict at the level of Under-Secretary-General (SRSG-SVC), and Chair of the interagency network, UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict (UN Action). Ms. Bangura previously served as Minister of Health and Sanitation for the Government of Sierra Leone, having acquired 20 years experience in the fields of governance, conflict resolution, and reconciliation in sub-Saharan and West Africa.
In 2007, she became only the second woman to attain the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Sierra Leone, and was appointed Chief Advisor to and Spokesperson for the President on bilateral and international issues. She is an experienced civil society, human and women’s rights campaigner and democracy activist, particularly in her role as Executive Director of the National Accountability Groups, Chair and Co-founder of Campaign for Good Governance, the largest home-grown NGO in Sierra Leone.
Ms. Bangura brings to her role as Under-Secretary-General a range of direct field experience with peacekeeping, having served as Head of the Office of Civil Affairs in the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). While with UNMIL, she managed the largest civilian facet of the Mission, including capacity-building of government institutions and community reconciliation. Ms. Bangura’s peacebuilding experience is also extensive, including serving as a member of the United Nations Development Programme Sierra Leone Task Force on Special Initiatives on Governance in Africa. In this role, she advised the agency on integrating methods of inclusion and participation, as well as formulating advocacy positions for UNDP’s work with Sierra Leone’s government and development partners in an effort to reduce poverty and decentralize government.
Ms. Bangura has been recognized for her outstanding service and leadership, including being selected as the recipient of the Africa Award of Merit for Leadership; the Bayard Rustin Humanitarian Award; the National Endowment for Democracy’s Democracy Award.
Ms. Bangura earned her B.A. degree from Fourah Bay College (now, University of Sierra Leone) as well as diplomas in Insurance Management from the City University Business School of London and Nottingham University.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Haja Zainab Hawa Bangura
BIRTHDATE
December 18, 1959
EDUCATION
B.A. Fourah Bay College (now, University of Sierra Leone), Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute of London, Diplomas in Insurance Management from the City University Business School of London and Nottingham University
PLACE OF BIRTH
Yonibana, Sierra Leone
RESIDENCY
New York, NY
LANGUAGES
English, Krio, Temne