Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-8mjnm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T06:20:47.261Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Women and the 2005 election in Liberia*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2009

Jacqui Bauer*
Affiliation:
Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Indiana University, 513 N. Park Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47408, USA

Abstract

In 2005, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf defeated George Weah to become President of Liberia and the first woman elected to head an African country. Women voters were widely credited with her victory. This paper quantifies this claim by analysing newspaper content during the election period to gauge civil society group activity. It finds that consistency in their activities may have allowed women's groups to surpass other civil society groups in impacting the election. Activity levels of women's groups remained stable between the election and run-off periods, unlike other major group types whose activity level dropped by between 37% and 70%. It concludes that the environment surrounding the 2005 election was conducive to participation by women because of their existing, latent power in many spheres; their long experience as peacebuilders; the decimation of conventional social and political structures; Liberian women's experience in leadership positions; the failure of multiple male-dominated efforts; and the presence of a well-qualified female candidate.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Special thanks to Verlon Stone of the Liberian Collections Project at Indiana University for making available the materials used in this study, and for his comments. Thanks also to Amos Sawyer for his encouragement, review and advice; and to Xavier Basurto, Shelley-Jean Bradfield, Michael Cox, Thomas Evans and Maria Claudia Lopez Perez for their thoughtful input.

References

REFERENCES

Acemoglu, D. & Robinson, J. A.. 2006. Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
African Women and Peace Support Group (AWPSG). 2004. Liberian Women Peacemakers. Trenton, NJ: African World Press.Google Scholar
Best, K. Y. 2005. ‘Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, our best choice’, Liberian Daily Observer, 10.10.2005.Google Scholar
Bradford, B. K. 2005. ‘Let it be said that we were there’, Liberian Daily Observer, 26.10.2005.Google Scholar
Connell, D. 1998. ‘Strategies for change: women and politics in Eritrea and South Africa’, Review of African Political Economy 25, 76: 189207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, D. E., Beyan, A. J. & Burrowes, C. P.. 2001. Historical Dictionary of Liberia. London: Scarecrow Press.Google Scholar
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). 1985. Women and Developing agriculture (Women in Agriculture Series 4). Rome: FAO.Google Scholar
Franceschet, S. 2001. ‘Women in politics in post-transitional democracies’, International Feminist Journal of Politics 3, 2: 207–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gberie, L. 2006. ‘Liberia: new hope for a troubled region’, New African 447: 38–9.Google Scholar
Geisler, G. 1995. ‘Troubled sisterhood: women and politics in Southern Africa: case studies from Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana’, African Affairs 94, 377: 545–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, D. 1999. ‘From “warlord” to “democratic” president: how Charles Taylor won the 1997 Liberian elections’, Journal of Modern African Studies 37, 3: 431–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, D. 2006. ‘Liberia 2005: an unusual African post-conflict election’, Journal of Modern African Studies 44, 3: 375–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Htun, M. N. 2003. ‘Women and democracy’, in Dominguez, J. I. & Shifter, M., eds. Constructing Democratic Governance in Latin America. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Inglehart, R. & Norris, P.. 2000. ‘The developmental theory of the gender gap: women's and men's voting behaviour in global perspective’, International Political Science Review 21, 4: 441–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), UNOCHA. 2006. Available at: <http://www.irinnews.org/S_report.asp?ReportID=52502&SelectRegion=West_Africa>..>Google Scholar
Kwanue, C. Y. 2005. ‘Women endorse Ellen candidacy’, Liberian Daily Observer, 26.10.2006.Google Scholar
Lyons, T. 1998. ‘Liberia's path from anarchy to elections’, Current History 97, 619: 229–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mazurana, D. & Carlson, K.. 2004. From Combat to Community: women and girls of Sierra Leone. Women Waging Peace. Cambridge, MA: Hunt Alternatives Fund, available at: <http://www.peacewomen.org/resources/Peace_Negotiations/WWPSierraLeone.pdf>, accessed 18.11.2008.,+accessed+18.11.2008.>Google Scholar
Moghadam, V. M. 2003. ‘Engendering citizenship, feminizing civil society: the case of the Middle East and North Africa’, Women & Politics 25, 1/2: 6387.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moran, M. H. & Pitcher, M. A.. 2004. ‘The “basket case” and the “poster child”: explaining the end of civil conflicts in Liberia and Mozambique’, Third World Quarterly 25, 3: 501–19.Google Scholar
National Elections Commission, Republic of Liberia (NECL). 2005a. 2005 Election Results. Monrovia: NEC, available at: <http://www.necliberia.org/results/President/President_ByVotes.php>, accessed 16.11.2008.,+accessed+16.11.2008.>Google Scholar
NECL. 2005b. Turnout for the 11 October and 8 November 2005 Elections. Monrovia: NEC, available at: <http://www.necliberia.org/results/Turnout/TurnOutIndex.html>, accessed 16.11.2008.,+accessed+16.11.2008.>Google Scholar
North, D. C. & Weingast, B. R.. 1989. ‘Constitutions and commitment: the evolution of institutions governing public choice in seventeenth century England’, Journal of Economic History 49, 4: 803–32.Google Scholar
Sawyer, A. 2005. Beyond Plunder: toward democratic governance in Liberia. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sawyer, A. 2008. ‘Emerging patterns in Liberia's post-conflict politics: observations from the 2005 elections’, African Affairs 107, 427: 177–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soares, C. 2005. ‘10 questions for Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’, Time 166, 23: 8.Google Scholar
Tripp, A. M. 2001. ‘The politics of autonomy and cooptation in Africa: the case of the Ugandan women's movement’, Journal of Modern African Studies 39, 1: 101–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). 1998. African Women's Report 1998: post-conflict reconstruction in Africa: a gender perspective. Addis Ababa: ECA.Google Scholar
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). 2007. Liberia 2007: common humanitarian action plan. New York: UNOCHA.Google Scholar
Waylen, G. 1994. ‘Women and democratization: conceptualizing gender relations in transition politics’, World Politics 46, April: 327–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WordNet. 2008. ‘A lexical database for the English language’, Princeton University, available at: <http://wordnet.princeton.edu/>, accessed 15.5.2008.,+accessed+15.5.2008.>Google Scholar
Zeleza, P. 2006. ‘The struggle continues’, Africa Week (London), Issue 22.Google Scholar