by Alejandro Guevara Onofre

Created on: March 11, 2009

Black Women-Power & Politics

1917-1930 Zauditu became Empress of Ethiopia. She was the first woman leader of an African nation.

1941-1960 Mantsebo Amelia Matsaba became Queen of Basutoland (now Lesotho).

1950 In Barbados women were allowed to vote.

1969 Liberia's Angie Brooks served as president of the United nations General Assembly during its 1968-69 session.

1974 Bernadette Olowo became Uganda's ambassador to Holy See. She was the first African female to occupy the post.

1974 Uganda's dictator Idi Amin Dada appointed Princess Elizabeth Baagaya of Toro as his Foreign Minister. She became one of the few female ministers in Africa.

1974-1976 Bangui (Central African Republic). Dictator Jean-Bedel Bokassa appointed Madame Elisabeth Domitien as his Prime Minister. She was sworn in as Africa's first woman Prime Minister.

1980- Mozambique (Africa). Samora Machel's wife, Graca Machel was one of the most outstanding female leaders on the African mainland. After Samora's death in 1986, she married Nelson Mandela. In the late 1990s, Graca was First Lady of South Africa. She became the country's leading women's rights activist.

1980 Mrs. Mary Eugenia Charles, known as the "Iron Lady of the Caribbean", became the first black female leader in the world. During her rule, Dominica had cordial diplomatic ties with Washington,Taipei and London.She also called for the admission of Taiwan to the United Nations. Dominica's Mary Eugenia Charles soon earned a reputation as one of the Caribbean's top leaders. She was the only black female ruler in the 20th century to win three consecutive terms.

1982 Notombi Twala became Queen of the Kingdom of Swaziland.

1982-1983 Dzeliwe Shongwe was Queen of Swaziland.

1984-1986/ 1988-1994 Maria Liberia-Peters was elected Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles (Caribbean).

1985 The Third World Conference on Women was held in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya.

1990-1991 Dame Ertha Pascal-Trouillot became President of Haiti. When she was nominated to the post of Haiti presidency, she was an unknown to the Caribbean public.

1992 Peru's Maria Elena Moyano, a human rights activist, was brutally assassinated by Shining Path, one of the most dangerous terrorist groups in the Third World. Today Moyano, who was an African-Peruvian citizen, is a symbol of peace on the Latin American continent.

1993-1994 Sylvie Kinigi was the first woman to be leader of Burundi.She was the second black female Prime Minister on the African continent after Elisabeth Domitien (Central

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