Healing Powers
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12014185/site/newsweek/
African women are starting to take charge-making new laws, changing
old attitudes, inspiring others to follow their lead. Who will help
them mend a broken continent?
By Joshua Hammer
Newsweek
April 3, 2006 issue - The national legislature on Monrovia's Capitol
Hill is a forlorn wreck of a place, its fa=E7ade peppered with bullet
holes from the country's civil wars, its interior crumbling after two
decades of looting and neglect. Legislators wander through darkened
hallways that haven't had lights for years; the ceilings are so torn up
they look as if they've been hit by mortar rounds. But on a recent
Monday, red, white and blue bunting festooned the Joint Chamber and a
volunteer band played jauntily on the balcony. Liberian tribal
chieftains, Western ambassadors and other dignitaries filed in, buzzing
with expectation. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first elected female
leader in Africa's history, was coming to call.
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