Women across Africa are looking to Liberia?s ?Mama Ellen?, the continent?s first elected female president, to inspire a generation of new politicians and bring peace and clean governance to her shattered nation.

?The taboo has been broken ... this is a historic moment,? said Marie-Angelique Savane, a Senegalese sociologist. ?Men have shown what they can do. Many women will now think ?Why not me??? Several women have led African governments and many hold senior positions, but the Harvard-trained economist is the first to obtain the top head of state job through elections.

Johnson-Sirleaf, who campaigned to the sound of the feminist anthem ?I am woman, hear me roar?, sees her victory over soccer icon George Weah, confirmed on Wednesday, as just the start for African women.

<B>?Turning point for peace?

?It is a great door-opener for women all over the continent and I am very pleased that I am the one who is going to open the doors,? the 67-year-old former finance minister told Reuters. Traditionally, a woman?s role in African societies is to take care of the family, educate the children and work. But many, tired of widespread corruption on the world?s poorest continent, believe women make better leaders than men.

?Women are sincere, dynamic but most importantly, they are not tainted by corruption,? Hadiata Samba, a 36-year-old insurance worker, said in the Senegalese capital Dakar. Many of Johnson-Sirleaf?s fans are men who see women as less likely to turn to the gun than the men who have dragged so many African states into savage conflicts.

Johnson-Sirleaf faces a huge task rebuilding a nation devastated by a 14-year civil war that killed 250,000 people. Known popularly as Liberia?s ?Iron Lady? and by supporters as ?Mama Ellen?, she has pledged to peacefully reconcile warlords behind years of violence and help child soldiers brutalised by the wars they were enlisted to fight.

?This will be the turning point for peace in Liberia because we as women reject war and conflict and I don?t think there is anyone better placed to lead that country right now,? said Zoe Bakoko Bakoru, Uganda?s minister for gender, labour and social development. Modern Africa?s first female president was Liberia?s Ruth Perry, appointed ? but not elected ? head of a transitional state council in 1996. Central African Republic?s Elisabeth Domitien became the first woman to serve as prime minister of an African nation in 1975.

Women across Africa have made significant advances at the ballot box. Africa leads the developing world in the ratio of women holding legislative positions ? 16 percent, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Tiny Rwanda has the highest proportion of women serving in parliament ? 49 percent.

South Africa?s most senior female politician is Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and neighbouring Zimbabwe?s Joyce Mujuru is vice president. Mozambique and Sao Tome have women premiers. Africa?s oil giant, Nigeria, has a woman at the head of the all-important Finance Ministry, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. ?It?s not about women, it?s about having quality leadership and if those are women, so much the better,? said Edith Nawakwi, the first woman to head a political party in Zambia.

But even in Liberia, women?s rights have a long way to go. Rape was commonly used as a weapon of war and forced marriages still occur. Many look to Johnson-Sirleaf for a new start. ?Women will have more rights in Liberia now,? said unemployed Monica Nah in Monrovia. ?We are going to see to it.? Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai said: ?Women have a great opportunity to work for peace and I hope ... we shall demonstrate that we can indeed create the kind of environment that the people of Africa have been searching for all these years.?

<B>Marie-Louise GUMUCHIAN</B>

BIOGRAPHY

<B>Liberia?s ?Iron Lady?</B>

Ellen Johnson was born on 29th October 1938 in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, the daughter to descendents of original colonists of Liberia (ex-African slaves from America, who promptly on arrival set about enslaving the indigenous people using the social system of their old American masters as a basis for their new society). These descendents are known in Liberia as Americo-Liberians.

■ Causes of Liberia?s Civil Conflict:

The social inequalities between indigenous Liberians and the Americo-Liberians has lead to much of the political and social strife in the country, as leadership bounced between dictators representing opposing groups (Samuel Doe replacing William Tolbert, Charles Taylor replacing Samuel Doe). Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf rejects the suggestion that she is one of the elite: ?If such a class existed, it has been obliterated over the last few years from intermarriages and social integration.?

■ Gaining an Education:

From 1948 to 55 Ellen Johnson studied accounts and economics at the College of West Africa in Monrovia. After marriage at the age of 17 to James Sirleaf, she travelled to America (in 1961) and continued her studies, achieving a degree from the University of Colorado. From 1969 to 71 she read economics at Harvard, gaining a masters degree in public administration. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf then returned to Liberia and began working in William Tolbert?s (True Whig Party) government.

■ A Start in Politics:

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf served as Minister of Finance from 1972 to 73, but left after a disagreement over public spending. As the 70s progressed, life under Liberia?s one-party state became more polarised - to the benefit of the Americo-Liberian elite. On 12 April 1980 Master Sergeant Samuel Kayon Doe, a member of the indigenous Krahn ethnic group, seized power in a military coup and President William Tolbert was executed along with several members of his cabinet by firing squad.

■ Life under Samuel Doe:

With the People?s Redemption Council now in power, Samuel Doe began a purge of government. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf narrowly escaped - choosing exile in Kenya. From 1983 to 85 she served as Director of Citibank in Nairobi, but when Samuel Doe declared himself president of the Republic in 1984 and unbanned political parties, she decided to return. During the 1985 elections Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf campaigned against Doe, and was placed under house arrest.

■ An Economist?s Life in Exile:

Sentenced to ten years in prison, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf spent just a short time incarcerated, before being allowed to leave the country once again as an exile. During the 1980s she served as Vice President of both the African Regional Office of Citibank, in Nairobi, and of (HSCB) Equator Bank, in Washington. Back in Liberia civil unrest erupted once more. On 9 September 1990, Samuel Doe was killed by a splinter group from Charles Taylor?s National Patriotic Front of Liberia.

■ A New Regime:

From 1992 to 97 Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf worked as Assistant Administrator, and then Director, of the UN Development Program Regional Bureau for Africa (essentially an Assistant Secretary-General of the UN). Meanwhile in Liberia an interim government was put in power, lead by a succession of four un-elected officials (the last of whom, Ruth Sando Perry, was Africa?s first female leader). By 1996 the presence of West African peacekeepers created a lull in the civil war, and elections were held.

■ A First Attempt at the Presidency:

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf returned to Liberia in 1997 to contest the election. She came second to Charles Taylor (gaining 10% of the vote compared to his 75%) out of a field of 14 candidates. The election was declared free and fair by international observers. (Johnson-Sirleaf campaigned against Taylor and was charged with treason.) By 1999 civil war had returned to Liberia, and Taylor was accused of interfering with his neighbours, fomenting unrest and rebellion.

■ A New Hope from Liberia:

On 11 August 2003, after much persuasion, Charles Taylor handed power over to his deputy Moses Blah. The new interim government and rebel groups signed an historic peace accord and set about installing a new head of state. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was proposed as a possible candidate, but in the end the diverse groups selected Charles Gyude Bryant, a political neutral. Johnson-Sirleaf served as head of the Governance Reform Commission.