As a 9-year-old girl, Elizabeth Ivase attended a nationalist rally in Gboko, Benue, where she listened to influential figures like Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Nnamdi Azikiwe, and Herbert Macaulay speak about Nigeria’s future. By 1957, as an 18-year-old student at the Sacred Heart Teachers' College in Kaduna, she addressed the Willink Commission on Minority Groups in Nigeria, advocating for the civic rights of women in Northern Nigeria who were still denied the right to vote. Her efforts contributed to securing women's voting rights in the 1979 elections.

Her early activism laid the foundation for a groundbreaking political career. Ivase made history as the first woman in Benue to serve in the State Executive Council. As Commissioner for Special Duties from 1979 to 1982, she spearheaded major infrastructure projects, including the Taraku Soya Mill and the Earth Dam at Ahungwa. Building on this legacy, she shattered another glass ceiling in 1982, becoming the first woman from Northern Nigeria to hold a ministerial position at the federal level, serving as Minister of State until 1983.

Ivase was also a passionate advocate for education. She had emphasised the importance of girls' education before the Willink Commission and later championed the establishment of day secondary schools across Benue to make learning more accessible.