-The Agony of Liberian Women 30% gender quota quest
By: G Bennie Bravo Johnson I
Advocates for gender equality and women in politics continue to attribute the underrepresentation of women at the National Legislature to the issue of gender inequality women face in politics in Liberia. They believe that these inequalities make it difficult for women to crack the male-dominated control of the Liberian political space.
Pundits postulate that one of the key barriers faced by female candidates in Liberia is the persistent gender bias, and women often have to confront negative stereotypes and sexist attacks that can erode their chances of winning elections, advocates say.
In the just ended 2023 general election, out of the 153 women who ran for legislative seats, only 7 women won, with eigin the House of Representatives and one in the Senate.
The House of Representatives has 65 males, while the Senate only has 3 females out of 30 members, with Senator-elect Dabah Varpilah of Grand Cape Mount County being the only newest female. This seems to be a harsh reality that pushes women far from attaining the 30 percent women’s political participation at the national table.
Liberia is on the verge of conducting pivotal by-elections, scheduled for April 23, 2024, for a Senatorial seat in Nimba County and a Representative seat for District #1 in Grand Gedeh County. It was anticipated that women would use the Nimba county by-election to upbeat their current number in the national legislature.
However, out of the total of 19 candidates who are contesting various positions, including four for the senatorial seat and 15 for the representative seat, the representative race has 3 women candidates and a huge notable absence of female candidates in the senatorial race.
The absence of women in the Nimba county senatorial by-election and a three percent representation in the by-election in Grand Gedeh is conspicuous enough to tell that women are not near attaining 30 percent political participation.
In Nimba, the April 2024 by-election is necessitated by the election of former Nimba County Senator Jeremiah Koung as vice president of Liberia in the recently held presidential election and runoff on October 10, and November 14, 2023, respectively.
In Grand Gedeh, Representative Erol Madison Gwion, Representative-elect of District No. 1, who was elected during the October 10, 22023, legislative elections met with an untimely death in November 2023.
A by-election provides the chance to elect a new candidate to fill the empty seat, giving voters another opportunity to voice their preferences.
Meanwhile, the number of women in the 55 national legislature fall short by one legislative seats from the 54th, which was 9 women. A drop that brings about a decline in the record number of women elected to the Liberian legislature during the 2005 elections, an election that saw the highest percentage of women elected to the Legislature – almost 16%.
Liberia census data report that the female population is slightly less than 50% of the country’s 5.2 million people, has long struggled to achieve gender equality in its political landscape, consistently ranking as one of the lowest countries on the Gender Inequality Index and with a remarkably low score among countries with a limited number of women in parliament.
Additionally, they claim that women legislative candidates often grapple with financial disparities, limited access to influential networks, and a lack of institutional support, making it even more difficult for them to secure their seats in the legislature, which is why it has been heavily male-dominated for so long, with the incoming House expected to have 66 male lawmakers to 7 women.
The country’s ranking is expected to drop on the Inter Parliamentary Union, as Liberia currently ranks 163rd of 186 placements on the global ranking of women in national parliaments if the outcome of the October 10 polls is factored in.
As for the regional average, the country is expected to still remain far below the 26% for Sub-Saharan Africa and 19% in West Africa, as the percentage of women in the Legislature from 2023 is expected to be around 9-10%.
