Ahead of Presidential and Legislative elections in October, over 30 female aspirants have benefited from a Joint Role Model Gender Empowerment Training for Women's Political Participation.
The training organized by Sister's Hand Liberia, brought together women political aspirants, community leaders from Montserrado, Grand Cape Mount, Lofa, and Grand Gedeh counties respectively to narrate their stories on different forms of humiliations, intimidations, and disadvantages confronting them.
It also seeks increasing women's participation in leadership at all echelons of the democratic process.
The training was organized as part of the Women Peace and Humanitarian Fund-funded project aimed at empowering women of Liberia to address physical, social, and emotional challenges brought upon them by the Coronavirus Pandemic.
Accordingly, the training also seeks to establish local platforms, develop policies, and strengthen the capacity of women's rights groups and social movements. It will also lead to the advancement of women's empowerment in the electoral process and promote gender equality across political institutions.
There have been increasing concerns from rights groups, international partners, media, and CSOs over the limited representation of women in the active politics of Liberia. The majority of the women population are either seen as cooks, caterers, and caretakers during political events and on many occasions, they are prevented from partaking in decision-making.
Women continue to face challenges across the country due to failure of the government to identify and implement strategies to knock down the numbers of women and men in national governance and decision-making.
Additionally, the disadvantages of traditional and cultural norms have greatly affected gender equality in all aspects of the country.
Alpha Kamara is Program Director of Sister's Hand Liberia and the Lead Focus Person for the Women Peace and Humanitarian Fund under UN Women Liberia. Kamara stressed the training was held following a comprehensive survey done by Sister's Hand Liberia and the Center for Peace and Security Studies.
He said the survey identified that women face several obstacles to participating in politics including structural barriers, discriminatory laws, and the continued practice of political institutions to limit women's options to run for office.
Kamara disclosed that there exists a huge capacity gap among females as compared to male counterparts in access to education and resources needed to become effective leaders. He maintained that the situation has compelled most women to abandon their ambitions.
He highlighted that the situation has become extremely challenging, especially for female aspirants in Liberia. "Women are underrepresented in leading positions both elected, civil service, and the private sector despite failing to consider their unmatched and proven abilities as leaders and change-makers", said Kamara.
At the end of the training, participants were encouraged to return to their various constituencies to establish local platforms, develop policies, and strengthen the capacity of women's rights groups and social movements. They were also urged to promote gender equality across their various terrains.
The participants lauded the efforts of Sister's Hand Liberia and UN Women for the initiative, famous Actress and former Montserrado County senatorial aspirant Evangeline Israel King (Ann Genie), expressed optimism about the initiative and declared her interest in contesting the hot seat in October.
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Madam King attributed the downward trend in women's political representation to numerous obstacles and barriers women face from their male counterparts to enhance their capacity.
She cautioned women to break those barriers while adding that training is essential in order for women to develop new ideas, address future stereotypes, and be empowered. She pleaded with Sister's Hand and UN Women to expand the initiative to more women community leaders and aspirants.
The current Liberian Legislature constitutes a total of seventy-three (73) representatives and thirty (30) senators with only nine females in the House of Representatives, and two females in the Senate which constitutes 13.5% of legislators in the 54th National Legislature. At the level of the Executive, there are a little over five female ministers in the cabinet and the under-representation is across local government.
