All Articles Tagged "Ellen Johnson Sirleaf"
What Black Women Run The World? According To Forbes, Bey, Oprah, and Michelle
Source: dalje.com
It’s that time of the year again where Forbes starts rolling out list after list after list. We already found out who the highest-paid celebrities under 30 are and the celebrity couples bringing in the most cash, now we have the list of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World — and 10 of them are black women who are making their mark across the globe.
From expected entertainers, business women, and political leaders in the US and abroad, here are the 10 black women who run the world:
#7 Michelle Obama
#10 Oprah
#17 Ursula Burns, Chaiman and CEO, Xerox
#32 Beyonce
#50 Rosalind Brewer, President and CEO, Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart Stores
#52 Helene Gayle, President, CEO, CARE
#69 Etharian Cousin, Executive Director, World Food Programme, United Nations
#71 Joyce Banda, President, Malawi
#81 Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance, Nigeria
#82 Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President, Liberia
Congratulations ladies!
Do you think Forbes missed anyone?
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Janelle Monae and Jill Scott to Perform at Nobel Peace Prize Concert
One of our favorite artists of today, Janelle Monae, is set to perform at the 18th Annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert. And as if that wasn’t good enough soulful songtress Jill Scott will be performing as well with several other international musicians. The concert will take place on December 11th in Oslo, Norway.
This concert is exceptionally special in that this year’s Peace Prize will be awarded to three African women: Liberian President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee of Libya and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen.
The women will be recognized for their non-violent struggle in advocating for women’s rights and safety.
L-R: Tawakkul Karman (Yemen) Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Liberia), and Leymah Gbowee (Libya)
Three Women Win Nobel Peace Prize
Women’s rights is standing front and center today as Yemeni activist Tawakkul Karman, Africa’s first democratically elected female President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee honored the three women “for their nonviolent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.”
“We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society,” the committee said.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
In 1997, Sirleaf (above on the left) earned the nickname “Iron Lady” despite her loss to Charles Taylor in the presidential election that year. Her participation placed her on the national radar and in 2005 she became the first democratically elected female leader in Africa.
Holding a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University, Sirleaf was seen as a reformer and peacemaker when she took office in Liberia. After her election, she said she hoped young girls would see her as a role model and be inspired.
“I certainly hope more and more of them will be better off, women in Liberia, women in Africa, I hope even women in the world,” she said.
Acknowledging the male dominated society which she leads, buttons from her presidential campaign, for which elections will be held Tuesday, read “Ellen — She’s Our Man.”
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: Liberia’s First Woman President Wins Nobel Prize
(Reuters) – Joint Nobel Peace Prize winner and Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said on Friday the award was recognition of the West African state’s “many years of struggle for justice, peace, and promotion of development” since a brutal civil war. Johnson-Sirleaf shares the award with fellow Liberian Leymah Gbowee, a peace activist, and Yemeni activist Tawakul Karman. ”I believe we (Gbowee and I) both accept this on behalf of the Liberian people, and the credit goes to the Liberian people,” Johnson-Sirleaf told reporters outside her private residence in Liberia’s capital.
Liberian President Commits to Aid-Less Future
(Christian Science Monitor) — In her six years in office, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has restored relations with the western world, rebuilt tattered infrastructure, erased the country’s external debt, and entered the race for the second term she long ago swore she’d never seek, but will likely win. Last night, with 120 days ticking before ballot boxes open in Liberia, the president set another ambitious target for her little country that could: She wants Liberia to wean itself off aid by the decade’s end. ”There’s no reason why we cannot build upon the successes of today to ensure that ten years from now, Liberia should no longer require foreign assistance,” she told a crowd of hundreds of Africa watchers in London. It’s hard to under-state the importance of that goal. An aid-recipient state since 1819 when James Monroe bankrolled its founding, Liberia has risen and fallen by the whims of donors, raking in 771 percent more aid than revenue in 2008.
9 Powerful Women in Africa
The women of Africa are doing big things, to say the least. As politicians, business executives, NGO leaders and policy makers, women are demonstrating that they are passionate about driving Africa’s economic and political growth. Based off of Forbes’ list, here are just several of Africa’s female prime players:
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
President Republic of Liberia
In 2005, Johnson Sirleaf made history when she was elected as the first female president of Liberia and all of Africa.The highlight of her time in office has been reducing Liberia’s national debt, which stood at approximately $4.9 billion in 2006. Her administration successfully negotiated for debt relief from international creditors, and in June 2010, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund waived off Liberia’s $4.9 billion foreign debt. Johnson-Sirleaf has limited excess borrowing by restricting annual borrowing to 3 percent of GDP and by limiting expenditure of borrowed funds to only one-off infrastructure projects.
An Uncompromising Woman
(New York Times) — “Tell them to stop leaning on the fence!” Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia and the first woman ever elected head of state on the continent of Africa, ordered the leader of her security team. We were driving along one of the scarce paved avenues in her nation’s capital, Monrovia. With her convoy rode United Nations gunmen, part of a peacekeeping force of 10,000 charged with preventing a conflagration in the aftermath of 14 years of horrific civil war. The fighting ended in 2003, but outside the windows of Sirleaf’s S.U.V., the skeletons of abandoned buildings and the cries, at once thrilled and desperate, of the onlookers along the president’s route were signs of the country’s position near last on any list of how well the world’s nations are functioning.
