Janet Jagan
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Janet Jagan OE |
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|---|---|
 |
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| 6th President of Guyana | |
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In office 19 December 1997 – 11 August 1999 |
|
| Prime Minister |
Sam Hinds Bharrat Jagdeo |
| Preceded by | Sam Hinds |
| Succeeded by | Bharrat Jagdeo |
| Prime Minister of Guyana | |
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In office 17 March 1997 – 19 December 1997 |
|
| President | Sam Hinds |
| Preceded by | Sam Hinds |
| Succeeded by | Sam Hinds |
| First Lady of Guyana | |
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In role 9 October 1992 – 6 March 1997 |
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| President | Cheddi Jagan |
| Preceded by | Joyce Hoyte |
| Succeeded by | Yvonne Hinds |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Janet Rosenberg 20 October 1920 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | 28 March 2009 (aged 88) Belém, Brazil |
| Political party | People's Progressive Party |
| Spouse(s) | Cheddi Jagan (1943–1997) |
| Alma mater | Northwestern University |
Janet Rosenberg Jagan (October 20, 1920 – March 28, 2009) was the first female President of Guyana, serving from December 19, 1997, to August 11, 1999. She previously served as the first female Prime Minister of Guyana from March 17, 1997, to December 19, 1997. The wife of Cheddi Jagan, whom she succeeded as president, she was awarded Guyana's highest national award, the Order of Excellence, in 1993, and the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Gold Medal for Women's Rights in 1998.
Jagan was born Janet Rosenberg to middle-class Jewish parents on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, on October 20, 1920. Her maternal grandparents, Adolph and Rosa Kronberg (née Appelbaum), were Jewish immigrants. Adolph immigrated to Chicago from Romania and Rosa came from Hungary. In December 1942, aged 22, while working as a student nurse at Cook County Hospital, she met Cheddi Jagan, an Indo-Guyanese dentistry student at Northwestern University. They married on August 5, 1943, and she moved with him to Guyana in December 1943 where he set up his dental practice.
In Guyana, she took part in labor activism along with her husband and joined the British Guianese Labor Union. She also worked in her husband's dental clinic as a nurse for 10 years. In 1946, she founded the Women's Political and Economic Organization and co-founded the Political Affairs Committee.
Janet Jagan unsuccessfully ran for a seat from Central Georgetown in the 1947 general election. On January 1, 1950, she and her husband were co-founders of the left-wing People's Progressive Party (PPP); Janet served as the PPP's General Secretary from 1950 to 1970. Also in 1950, Jagan was elected to the Georgetown City Council. She was subsequently elected to the House of Assembly in the April 1953 election, winning a seat from Essequibo constituency. She was one of three women to win seats in that election; following the election, she was chosen as Deputy Speaker of the Legislature.
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