Mame Madior Boye was born on December 7, 1940 in Saint Louis, Senegal, which at the time was known as French West Africa. After completing her secondary studies, she followed in the footsteps of her father and her brothers, studying law upon her entrance to university. She attended the Faculty of Legal and Economic Sciences at the University of Dakar before continuing her studies in France, at the National Center for Judicial Studies in Paris. After completing her training in law in 1969, she returned to Senegal where she began working in the justice system. She worked first as Deputy Public Prosecutor of the Regional First Class Court of Dakar before being promoted to judge and eventually Vice President of the court. In 1975, Madior founded the Association of Senegalese Lawyers, serving as the president of the association from its founding until 1990. Upon her retirement from this position, she became the Director of Engagements for the West African Banking Company, a position she held for nearly a decade. In April 2000, Madior was appointed Minister of Justice in the months after the election of Abdoulaye Wade as President in February 2000. Within the year, after tensions caused the former Prime Minster to resign, Maidor was appointed Prime Minister by President Wade on March 3, 2001. In the legislative elections in May 2001, President Wade’s party gained a majority of seats, thanks in part to the representation of Prime Minister Boye, who worked to increase women’s representation in the legislature. During her time in office, she also sought to improve the country’s health system and improve the agriculture sector but faced resistance from President Wade who, under Senegal’s political system, had considerably more power than her. In November 2002, in the wake of the Joola disaster, which killed more than 1,800 people due to state negligence, her government was dismissed and she was forced to leave office. In the aftermath of the scandal, Madior was appointed as the African Union’s Special Representative for the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict.