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Janet Jagan was an American-born, Guyanese politician and stateswoman. As President of Guyana for two years, she was the first American-born woman to serve as president of any country. Her contribution to the development of the women’s movement is as impressive as her role in political and economic reform.

Early Life and Education

Jagan was born Janet Rosalie Rosenberg in Chicago, Illinois, on October 20, 1920. While working as a student nurse at the Cook County Nursing School in Chicago she met Cheddi Jagan, an Indo-Guyanese dentistry student at Northwestern University. They married on August 5, 1943, and in December that year she moved with him to what was then British Guiana, where he set up a dental practice and she worked for 10 years as a dental nurse.

Early Career

In Guyana, the Jagans quickly became involved in labor activism, joining the colony’s first-ever union, the British Guianese Labor Union. Janet Jagan founded the Women’s Political and Economic Organization, which promoted the right to vote and equality of employment conditions for women. In 1950 the couple co-founded the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), with the goal of liberating the country from colonial rule and exploitation. Jagan took the role of General Secretary of the PPP, a position she then held for 20 years. After British Guiana was granted home rule in 1953, the PPP’s electoral victory saw Cheddi Jagan become Prime Minister of Guyana while Janet Jagan was elected to the House of Assembly and chosen as Deputy Speaker of the Legislature.

Achievements in Her Field

First under British rule and then after Guyana gained independence in 1966, Jagan served in a variety of roles, including Minister of Labor, Health and Housing, and Minister of Home Affairs. When Cheddi Jagan was elected as President of Guyana in 1992, Janet Jagan became First Lady. She represented Guyana at the United Nations in 1993. 

After Cheddi Jagan’s death, Janet Jagan accepted nomination as the PPP’s presidential candidate in the December 1997 election, which she won, becoming the first female President of Guyana, as well as the first American-born woman to serve as president of any country. In July 1999 Jagan suffered a mild heart attack, and the following month she stepped down as president because her health left her incapable of “vigorous, strong leadership”. She died in 2009, in Georgetown, Guyana’s capital city.

Recognition

In 1993 Jagan was awarded Guyana’s highest national award, the Order of Excellence, and in 1998 she was awarded the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Gold Medal for Peace, Democracy and Women’s Rights. In 2011, Time magazine included her in its list of History’s Most Rebellious Women.

Additional Facts

• After the free and universal election of 1953, the Jagans led Guyana for only 133 days before British authorities suspended the new constitution. The couple were imprisoned for six months and put under house arrest for two years for their political activities during the subsequent period of repression.
• Janet officially became a citizen of Guyana in 1966, having been stripped of her U.S. citizenship more than 20 years earlier because of her political views.