On this day in 2006, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became the first elected female president in Africa

On this day in 2006, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was sworn in as president of Liberia, becoming the first woman to be elected head of state in an African country. She was re-elected in 2011, and during her terms she signed a Freedom of Information bill into law – the first legislation of its kind in West Africa. She also won the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to bring women into the peacekeeping process and was the first woman to be elected as the Chair of the Economic Community of West African States.

Read more about women’s achievements through history here