In November 2005, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf became the first female elected head of state in sub-Saharan Africa. On the face of it, the fact that this important breakthrough occurred in Liberia may seem paradoxical given that Liberia recently came out of years of conflict and is one of the poorest countries in the world. Generally, the advancement of women politically has been associated with the economic advancement of a country (Inglehart and Norris Reference Inglehart and Norris2003). However, Johnson-Sirleaf's victory is consistent with new trends on the continent regarding women's political leadership. Ten years ago, African women held just 10.7% of the seats in their legislatures, falling below the global average at the time of 12.2%.Footnote ¹ Today, women in Africa hold 17% of legislative seats, matching the global average. In several countries, women have made far greater progress: They hold nearly 50% of legislative seats in Rwanda (48.8%) and over 30% of seats in Mozambique, South Africa, Burundi, and Tanzania.

While scholars have highlighted women's growing representation in legislatures in Africa (Bauer and Britton Reference Bauer and Britton2006; Goetz and Hassim Reference Goetz and Hassim2003; Tripp, Konaté, and Lowe-Morna Reference Tripp, Konaté, Lowe-Morna and Dahlerup2006), relatively less attention has been devoted to women's gains in the executive branch. And while the international media heralded Johnson-Sirleaf as the first elected female head of state in Africa, few commentators recognized the extent to which it reflected women's growing presence in the executive branch across the continent and the developments that made her victory possible. This essay begins by placing her victory in this broader context, demonstrating that while she is the first woman in Africa to win the presidency, many women are seeking and obtaining leadership positions in the executive branch. Global, regional, and national women's movements have played an important role in this development, pushing for higher levels of women's political representation through 50-50 campaigns that promote gender parity, gender quotas that set a minimum threshold of seats that must be held by women, and subregional and regional initiatives to enhance gender equality (e.g., the Southern African Development Community's (SADC) Gender and Development Declaration and the African Union's (AU) commitment to gender parity in the AU Commission). After examining these continental trends, the essay then takes a more careful look at the Liberian context, arguing that opportunities provided by the postconflict environment and the role played by a strong women's movement that mobilized in support of Johnson-Sirleaf contributed to her victory.

African Women's Participation in the Executive Branch

Since the mid-1990s, women have made substantial gains in all areas of the executive branch in Africa. There are increasing numbers of women holding ministerial posts, serving as prime ministers and vice presidents, and running for the presidency. Women hold an average of just over 4 ministerial posts in African governments. Women's representation in cabinets ranges from one in Comoros, Kenya, Somalia, and Sudan to a high of 12 in South Africa. Since 1993, six women have served as prime ministers in five different states (Burundi, Rwanda, Senegal, São Tomé e Príncipe, and Mozambique; See Table 1). Since 1992, seven women have held the position of vice president or deputy president in six countries (Djibouti, Uganda, Gambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Burundi; See Table 2). In 1996, Ruth Perry became the first woman head of state in Africa when she was appointed the head of the Council of State in Liberia. Her appointment was an important victory for women peace activists in Liberia.

Table 1.

Women prime ministers in Africa

Source: Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership, “Woman Prime Ministers,” http://www.guide2womenleaders.com/Premier_Ministers.htm (February 12, 2008).

Table 2.

Women vice presidents and deputy presidents in Africa

Source: Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership, “Female Vice-Presidents and Deputy Heads of State,” http://www.guide2womenleaders.com/Vice-Presidents.htm (February 12, 2008).

In addition, women are seeking the most powerful political office in most African states—the presidency. The presidency is different from other executive offices—including prime minister—in that it often requires candidates to win votes in direct, national elections. Despite these obstacles, women are increasingly seeking the presidency in Africa. In the past eleven years (1997–2007), 23 different women ran in 19 different contests in 14 different states in Africa (See Table 3). Several women ran in more than one election; thus, there have been a total of 27 women aspirants in 19 elections during the 11-year time frame. Out of these 14 states, five have experienced widespread conflict in the past two decades (Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Congo-Kinshasa), lending support to broader findings that women tend to win executive offices in countries that are politically unstable and lack political institutionalization (Jalalzai Reference Jalalzai2008). One way that women presidential aspirants in Africa differ from their counterparts in Asia and Latin America is that few are related to powerful men. This difference may be a result of an historical tradition of women leaders in Africa.

Table 3.

African women presidential candidates

Source: Data collected from the African Elections Database, http://africanelections.tripod.com/index.html (February 12, 2008). Table includes only candidates who won their party's nomination. Johnson-Sirleaf received 19.8% of the vote in the first round in which 22 candidates competed. She polled 59.4% in the second round.

The majority of the women candidates polled less than 1% of the vote (22 out of 27, or 81.5%); nonetheless, it seems that most Africans are open to having women political leaders. About 74% of Africans polled in a recent Afrobarometer survey agreed or strongly agreed with the notion that women should have the same chance of being elected to political office as men. Overall, women were slightly more likely to agree with this statement than men (79.3% vs. 68.8%), though the gender gap varied across countries. Strong incumbents, weak party systems, and the high number of candidates in these races partially explain women candidates' low numbers. In the 19 presidential races, there were 14.42 candidates on average, ranging from a high of 33 in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006 to a low of five in Uganda in 2006. In the 19 elections, the first-place candidate polled an average of 54.91% of the vote in the first round of elections, ranging from 89.41% in the 2002 election in Congo-Brazzaville to 28.3% in the 2005 election in Liberia. On average, the margin of victory (i.e., difference between the first- and second-place candidates) was 32.28%, ranging from 2% or less (Zambia in 2001 and Kenya 2007) to 86.65% in Congo-Brazzaville in 2002.

In her first campaign for the presidency, Johnson-Sirleaf received just 9.8% of the vote. Charles Taylor, the winner of the 1997 presidential election, won over 75% of the vote, largely due to 1) fears that a Taylor loss would lead to a renewal of violence and 2) Taylor's control over key resources, including the only radio station that broadcast outside of the capital city, Monrovia. Even when Johnson-Sirleaf won the presidency in 2005, she received only 19.8% of the vote in the first round, placing second among the 22 candidates. In the second round, due largely to the support of women, she pulled ahead of the first-round winner, George Weah, winning 59.4% of the vote. In sum, although Johnson-Sirleaf was the first woman to win a national presidential election in Africa, many other women are running for the presidency.

Factors Contributing to Women's Growing Presence in Politics

So what has changed? Why are more women entering politics, and what specific factors made Johnson-Sirleaf's victory possible? What does it tell us about the changing nature of African politics? At least two developments have contributed to Johnson-Sirleaf's election: the opportunities created by Liberia's postconflict situation and the ability of an active women's movement to take advantage of these openings.