- Born in Chicago, Illinois, Janet Jagan attended the University of Detroit and the Cook County School of Nursing. She departed for (then) British Guiana in 1943 and worked as a dental nurse in Dr. Cheddi Jagan's clinic. She married Dr. Jagan the same year.
Disgusted by the British colony's poor working conditions and systemic poverty, Jagan became involved in the labour struggle and joined the colony's first union, the British Guiana Labour Union. She later co-founded the People's Progressive Party (PPP), which sought independence from Britain, and was one of three women to be elected to the House of Assembly in 1953.
Jagan served in a variety of portfolios including Deputy Speaker and Minister of Labour, Health and Housing prior to Guyana gaining its independence from Britain in 1966. Jagan was jailed for six months in 1955 following the suspension of the Constitution and the ouster of the PPP Government by the British.
Before her election as President in 1997, Jagan served as Guyana's Ambassador to the United Nations in 1993. Her accolades include, the UNESCO Award (The Gandhi Gold Medal Award) in 1997 and the Order of Excellence (O.E.), Guyana's highest national honour.
"My motivation is to relieve misery and let people get ahead and enjoy their lives because life should be enjoyable; it shouldn't be a torment or be an everyday punishment," said Jagan reflecting on her lifetime in politics. "
Janet Jagan, Guyana's fourth Executive President, is a woman of a number of firsts in her long history of involvement in her adopted country's politics.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, USA on October 20, 1920, she was to become Guyana's first woman Deputy Speaker, first woman to be elected in the Georgetown City Council, first woman cabinet minister under self-government, later first woman Prime Minister and then the nation's first woman President.
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