Do Women Make Better Leaders?

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was the first woman in Africa to be elected as head of state. Knowing this, one imagines she'd have to possess an extremely strong personality and views to get where she is today. There is no doubt that she's had to be a forceful presence. She was even able to beat a soccer star, George Weah, for the presidency in 2005. This article mainly focuses on portraying how the personality of Sirleaf has helped her lead Liberia, and then it broadens out to comment on women's ability to be leaders.

Liberia has a dark past. It was only in 2003 that the 14 year civil war was ended. The article mentions that there are still many empty and destroyed buildings. The UN is still positioned in Liberia with 10,000 men to prevent another surge of violence. It's a country where one of Sirleaf's rivals for her next term is Prince Yormie Johnson, a man who is responsible for one of the recent president's murders.

In such a troubled country having a strong leader is vital, and the article portrays how Sirleaf has seemed to have done that by opening Liberia up for international aid. She recently helped her country receive 4.6 billion dollars worth of relief effort from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, and a 20 million dollar loan program for Liberian businesses. Her strong personality, one where she isn't afraid to rebuke a bunch of young boys for putting pressure on a rickety old fence, has surely helped her lead Liberia. In addition, she has a had a strong reputation for keeping corruption out of the government. Liberia has been known for it's high level of corruption, so this change is seen universally as extremely positive.
However, she makes some comments that can be seen as highly controversial. She point blank believes women are better leaders. She said that if she could she would put only women on her cabinet. As of now, a quarter of her ministries's leaders are women. She stated, "Women are more committed. Women work harder, and women are more honest; they have less reasons to be corrupt. They don’t have so many diversions. Men have more than one wife; they have their concubines." This seems to touch on a point that has been discussed in class a lot. Is it okay to make blanket statements about women being more effective leaders based on gender generalizations? When looking at her side, it's obvious she has been an effective leader, an effective woman leader. She contributes her strong effective leadership style to surviving an abusive husband. I wonder if there is some grain of truth in the broad generalization she made. It's considered politically incorrect to make those types of blanket statements, but the facts in this situation back her up nicely. It is true that the article ends by commenting that her policy of trying to get new loans, smaller and more manageable, may be unwise due to Liberia's massive debt. However, overall this article focused on the positive benefits of her leadership, and what she is doing seems to me like it has been working decently.

On a related note, this article is about a woman leader in Africa, and since we have been reading "Ruined," I only thought it was appropriate to bring up the setting of the article. I'm wondering if blanket statements about women in leadership positions are more politically acceptable in Africa because of how gender is perceived in that culture being different from our own. Or if not more politically acceptable, at least its maybe easier to see why she would make such a strong statement because of the history of the country. Its not that woman are not responsible for some of the violence, but overall it is rebel groups run and made up of males who do the killing, while woman and children are mainly the victims. I wondered if the history of the country might change how gender is thought of by Liberians. Adding the question of geography I think adds another layer of controversy to Serlieaf's already controversial statements.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/magazine/24sirleaf-t.html?_r=1&ref=women