- One of Liberia's few female lawmakers told more than 300 women gathered in this Bong County district town Thursday that if the Legislature will not pass a gender quota, the president should appoint women directly to the House of Representatives -- 15 of them, one per county, with full legislative authority.
The proposal came from Rep. Moima Briggs Mensah, who represents Bong County District 6 and chairs the Women Legislative Caucus of Liberia. Speaking at a town hall consultation organized with support from UN Women, Mensah framed the measure not as a concession but as a contingency -- a second front in a fight she has no intention of abandoning.
"If we try and we don't get it, we will ask the president to appoint strong women to help us close that gap," she said. "We will not give up. But if it cannot work, we will bring another law, like in other countries, to allow the president to appoint women."
Of 73 seats in the House of Representatives, eight are held by women. Of 30 Senate seats, women hold three. Liberia, which elected Africa's first female head of state in 2005, ranks among the continent's lowest in female legislative representation.
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"We cannot continue to have 73 members in the House and only eight women," Mensah said. "In the Senate, there are 30 members and only three women. Is that fair? We must increase the numbers."
A Quota Stalled
Mensah's proposal emerges from a national conversation that has produced little movement. Advocates have pushed for legislation requiring political parties to reserve at least 30 percent of their candidate slots for women, a threshold, by regional standards, regarded as a minimum baseline for meaningful representation. The measure has faced sustained resistance in the Legislature.
"We tried and said give us 30 percent, but it is still difficult," Mensah said.
Her alternative, presidential appointment of 15 women to serve alongside elected members, is likely to draw constitutional scrutiny and political opposition. Critics may argue it bypasses the electoral process and sets a precedent for executive intervention in a branch of government designed to be independently elected. Mensah did not detail the legal mechanism she envisions or whether the appointed members would serve fixed terms.
What she was unambiguous about was the urgency.
"Let's increase the number of women in the Legislature," she told the gathering, which drew women from towns and villages across the district.
Regional Models
The debate in Liberia is not without precedent elsewhere on the continent and beyond. Rwanda's constitution mandates gender quotas that have produced the world's highest rate of female parliamentary representation; women hold more than 60 percent of seats in the lower chamber. Kenya's constitution enshrines a two-thirds gender rule limiting domination of public offices by any single gender. India has expanded female representation at the local level through reserved seats in village councils.
Advocates say Liberia has the regional examples it needs. What it lacks, they argue, is the political will to apply them.
Beyond the Chamber
The Salala consultation was organized as part of a broader initiative by the Women Legislative Caucus of Liberia, supported by international partners including the India-Brazil-South Africa Facility for Poverty and Hunger Alleviation. The program, running from 2025 to 2027, aims to strengthen sitting female lawmakers while building pathways for more women to enter electoral politics.
India's Ambassador to Liberia, Shri Manoj Bihari Verma, attended and reaffirmed his country's support for the initiative, linking inclusive governance to sustainable development.
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At the community level, participants raised concerns that extended beyond the Legislature. Many of the women said they farm cassava and rice but lack the equipment to scale their production. The link to political representation, they said, is direct: without economic independence, participation in governance remains out of reach.
"We are doing the work, but we need support to grow," said Mary Ben, who leads the Rural Women in Action for Sustainable Development group in Gbondoi Town. "If we can get rice mills and cassava processors, it will help our groups improve production and income."
Mensah, who pushed back against the persistent claim that female lawmakers are less accessible than their male counterparts, closed with a challenge to skeptics in her own district.
"They used to say when you vote for women, you will not see them," she said. "But you can see me here. I am your partner. Your business is my business. Everybody is not the same."
