The rise of Africa's women politicians

The observation applies elsewhere in Africa. Last year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, Wangari Maathai, for instance, is known for her grass-roots efforts to empower rural Kenyans to stand up to corruption in their government.

So are women inherently less corrupt?

The World Bank concluded in 2001 that "women can be an effective force for the rule of law and good governance" - and has increased its support of women-oriented programs.

But Geisler doesn't think female leaders will necessarily be less corrupt. So far, she says, "Women have just had less opportunity" for graft, in part because they're relative newcomers - and because when they do get into office, they're watched extra closely. Furthermore, politics hasn't fundamentally changed. "Even if you have better ideals when you enter politics, you'll soon notice you can't compete if you're not corrupt," says Geisler, a researcher at the Christian Michelsen Institute in Bergen, Norway, whose book is called, "Women and the Remaking of Politics in Southern Africa."

Nor does women's presence in power guarantee good government - as seen in Zimbabwe, among other countries, with its skyrocketing inflation, collapsing economy, and draconian policies.

Yet women do bring different priorities. "Because of their nurturing responsibilities," they tend to value "education, health, water, food - things having to do with social security," argues Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda in the Kenya office of UNIFEM, the UN's women development agency. "Those are priorities before making the borders secure and the defense ministry well-resourced."

Either way, women will increasingly be joining the ranks of the powerful, Geisler says. After joining Africa's colonial-era movements to struggle for freedom for their country and themselves, they were marginalized after independence, she explains. Many went into the nonprofit or civil-society sector - or ended up just "singing and dancing at airports" as part of arrival ceremonies for male politicians. But now, with voter dissatisfaction rising, they're increasingly moving into politics.

As for Liberia, perhaps it's not surprising it may be the first African nation with a woman president. "The country was founded by emancipated slaves" from the US in the 1800s, explains Rev. Katurah York Cooper, a pastor at the African Methodist Episcopal church in Monrovia. They arrived "with an empowering idea" of equality and freedom that "trickled down into every aspect of society."

Furthermore, Liberian men respect women "because they are afraid of you," says Etweda Cooper of the Liberian Women's Initiative. "They think these women want them to toe a straighter line."

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