Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: The Iron Lady

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: The Iron Lady

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is the 24th president of Liberia, and also the country’s first female head of state. Coming back from two exiles, Sirleaf returned home to Liberia only to find it devastated by civil war. Her leadership in the following years helped foster a recovery in Liberia’s ravaged economy, improved international relationships and provided a better standard of living.

President Sirleaf has endured “death threats, incarceration and exile” which allowed her a new perspective to lead the people to a better future. She saw the corruption during her time spent in prison and years of exile (Drew Faust). Johnson often made visits to Liberia as she was completing her education in America. From year 1965-1979

government, which forgave 358 million in Liberian debt in February of 2007.” (Gale)

Once the debt was settled, Sirleaf was able to start increase the salaries of her people. These were mainly the salaries of policeman and civil servants (Gale). This was the first step to stopping the corrupt system in Liberia as many civil servants were taking bribes due to their little amount of money. According to (The Center for Global Development) with economy slowly rising, it is aiming to:

“Restore agricultural production, where the majority of Liberians are employed, and to reinvigorate the natural resource-based activities that were once the engines of Liberia’s economy: rubber, timber, mining and cash crops. By opening the economy to trade and reducing barriers to investment, over time the government hopes to attract new investment in manufacturing and services to create large numbers of jobs for low skilled workers.” (Steve

Liberia were full of children who knew nothing but war. 90% of the people were unemployed and woman were still left in poverty. This was all before Sirleaf had taken presidency. Within only a few years time, there is now electricity in Monrovia. More and more kids are enrolling in school. Including women. Sirleaf advocated for women 's rights and has shown the world that women can do just as much as men. The women of Liberia who once were carrying logs down the river are now receiving education and getting involved with politics. As for healthcare, there are signs or progress everywhere. Training facilities for nurses, midwives, and physicians are up and running. More than half percentage of the children under age of two have been immunized against the harsh diseases in Africa compared with 35 percent in 2003. Life expectancy have increased more than 3 years. These improvements wouldn’t be showing if it wasn’t for Sirleaf’s education and good intentions. Even after all these good factors of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, some still oppose her of whether she really is a good president or