MONROVIA, Liberia — On the eve of a presidential election that will almost certainly return male rule to Liberia after 12 years, women delivered a warning.

By the hundreds they came on Monday, streaming through the mud and gathering on a grassy field in the Airfield Junction neighborhood, across the street from the residence of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first democratically elected female president in Africa, the most patriarchal of places. They wore white T-shirts and danced in front of a big sign.

“Don’t Touch Our Peace,” it said.

In a rare move on a continent where strongmen leaders cling to power for decades, Mrs. Sirleaf is stepping down at the end of her constitutionally mandated term and the women are giving the country back to the men. Only one woman is at the top of a ticket in Tuesday’s election, and she is not expected to win.

But across Monrovia, there is a palpable unease about whether the new president can build on one certain accomplishment of Mrs. Sirleaf: keeping the country out of war.