– As President Weah warns against electoral violence
By: Jerromie S. Walters
As portrayed annually, the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection on mid-Friday, March 3, 2023, celebrated along with women from all sectors across Liberia International Women’s Day under the national theme, “Innovating with Technology to Promote Gender Equality”.
Liberia’s observance of International Women’s Day through the Gender Ministry congregated scores of government officials to include the President, Vice President, Deputy Speaker, Ministers, women and girls from various government ministries and agencies, Civil Society Actors, women rights activists and advocates, students, and the government’s international partners.
The celebration commenced with a walk earlier that morning from the SKD Boulevard to the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ministerial Complex in Congo Town, where the official event was held.
Interestingly, the event entertained speeches, musical performances by A-list Liberian artists, spoken words, and recognized the works of several Liberian women who have been asserting relentless efforts and making meaningful sacrifices for the country over the years.
In an official remark at the occasion, President George Weah praised the women for upholding the peace and stability of Liberia and assured his willingness to continue to support their endeavors and ensure a safe space for them.
President George Weah embraced the women and stated that the protection and empowerment of women, girls, and children, those segments of Liberia’s population who are considered the most vulnerable, remains key on his agenda.
“They are the dearest to my heart, and I remain resolute in my commitment to do all in my power to mobilize the needed resources to protect and empower them,” he assured.
The President also vowed to continue to provide support for ensuring the safety of women, girls, and children from all forms of violence, including sexual and gender-based violence, particularly rape.
“We remain firm that no perpetrator of any form of sexual or gender-based violence will go free. When found guilty, you will face the full force of the law, which will be applied without fear or favor”, President Weah assured.
He went further by guaranteeing that his government will continue to enhance capacity-building for vulnerable groups, including women and adolescent girls, to include training in business development skills as well as literacy and numeracy training.
Moreover, the President applauded the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, as well as the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, for securing US$44.6 million through the World Bank for the Liberia Women Empowerment Project.
As disclosed by reports, the Liberia Women Empowerment Project will provide women and girls with grants to enable them to start new businesses or expand their existing businesses across various sectors of our economy, as well as provide them with the relevant training and mentoring so that they are successful in such business ventures.
Earlier at the event, Gender Minister Williemeta E. Saydee-Tarr appreciated the President for his commitment to the empowerment of women under his administration and to the fight against all forms of violence against women and girls.
Highlighting scores of her major achievements over the last five years,
The Gender Minister mentioned the permanent ban on female genital mutilation (FGM), the anti-SGBV roadmap, and the EU Spotlight initiative, through which a lot more was done to intrinsically include the ban on FGM in Liberia.
Among others, she highlighted the call center, gender responsiveness, gender, the social inclusion unit at several government agencies, and other significant efforts under her leadership.
She thanked the European Union (EU), the Swedish Embassy, UN Women, and all of the government’s foreign partners for their support over the period.
The Gender Minister expressed her excitement that women are still making significant marks in and out of government and expressed hope that more will be done.
She said the occasion was intended to venerate women in technology, as she had commended women in business, politics, and all other formal and informal areas.
From her end, UN Women Country Representative Comfort Lamptey, while reading the UN Secretary General’s International Women’s Day Proclamation, said the observance of the day is a call to action to stand with women who have been victimized by some form of violence, to strengthen protection of women against all forms of violence, and to accelerate women’s full participation in leadership.
She hailed the government for its support of women’s political participation over the period but appealed to the President to ensure that the legislation requiring 30% women’s political participation is passed into law.
As the occasion also entertained presentations from women from several professional areas, Ms. Josephine Gaye from the National Elections Commission elaborated on women’s roles as voters and candidates in the pending elections and encouraged women to register, assuring that the process will be easier and faster than it was years ago.
Ms. Gaye recommended the need for government and the legislature to ensure that there are legal means to effectuate actions against parties that will fall short on the legislative gender mandate for political parties.
Elaborating on the importance of mainstreaming women into technology and digital marketing platforms, Orange Foundation bosses urged the women to make the most significant use of social media.
She urged women and girls to consider the need to importantly use mobile phone for Digital marketing, and mobile money concisely, and not as many have restricted phone to the everyday social media.
At the same time, Zoquay Beysolow Konneh, a presenter for the Liberia Broadcasting System (LBS), while articulating on the significance of the media to women, noted that the media is a paramount pillar to women’s empowerment, and as such, she admonished media houses to develop a space that will promote more women’s political participation.
The young female media practitioner encouraged the media and Liberians to avoid using the media to bring women down and ensure that it is used to push their agenda (positive information).
The celebration of the 2023 International Women’s Day in Liberia also recognized several Liberian women who have genuinely served the state through astute honor.
Amongst the women that were honored are the Gender Minister Williametta E. Saydee-Tarr, the Executive Director of the Liberia Crusaders for Peace Ambassador Juli Endee, Archbishop Matilda G. Tarr, Founder, African Women for Jesus to All Nations, Chief Superintendent Sue D. Jackson, Longest Serving Female of the Liberia National Police, Madam Woe Gurley Lucretia Merchant, Longest Serving Female of the Ames Forces of Liberia, and Mrs. Maggie Reeves Wulah, the Liberia Civil Society Association.
This year’s Women’s Day is being observed under the global theme “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality” and under the national theme “Innovating with Technology to Promote Gender Equality”.
Globally, International Women’s Day is observed on March 8 of every year, but Liberia was forced to celebrate the day on the 3rd due to the observance of Decoration Day, which is a national holiday and will also be on March 8 of 2023.
International Women’s Day has been set aside annually to celebrate women’s accomplishments, to recognize their rights and power, to give women the prominence they deserve, to honor their voices that go unheard, their tears that go unnoticed, and their rights that are mostly dominated by their male counterparts.
Meanwhile, as Liberia draw closer to the 2023 presidential and legislative elections, President George W. Bush has encouraged all political actors to uphold the requirements of the signed guidelines on violence against women in elections and politics.
While the issue of violence against women during political processes is often portrayed, the President wants the heads and members of all political parties to abstain from acts that have the propensity to create conflict for women and undermine their involvement in elections.
President Weah made the resounding appeal at the International Women’s Day celebration, which was held at the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ministerial Complex in Congo Town on Friday, March 3, 2023.
He believes that the full participation of women in the political process is of paramount importance to the growth and development of Liberia.
With said ideology, the President encouraged more women to register, vote, and contest for public offices.
As there is a transition in the voter registration processes from manual registration to a digital registration system using biometrics, the President further propounded that his government intends to exert its best efforts to ensure that women across Liberia understand the new digital voter registration process and are registered within the allotted timeframe.
As Liberia’s Feminist-in-Chief, President George Weah articulated that the protection and empowerment of women, girls, and children, those segments of Liberia’s population who are considered the most vulnerable, remain key on his agenda.
“They are the dearest to my heart, and I remain resolute in my commitment to do all in my power to mobilize the needed resources to protect and empower them,” he assured.
The Liberian Leader also vowed to continue to provide support for ensuring the safety of women, girls, and children from all forms of violence, including sexual and gender-based violence, particularly rape.
“We remain firm that no perpetrator of any form of sexual or gender-based violence will go free.” “When found guilty, you will face the full force of the law, which will be applied without fear or favor,” President George Weah guaranteed.
He continued by assuring that his government will continue to enhance capacity-building for vulnerable groups, including women and adolescent girls, to include training in business development skills as well as literacy and numeracy training.
In this regard, the President thanked the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, as well as the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, for securing US$44.6 million through the World Bank for the Liberia Women Empowerment Project.
According to reports, the Liberia Women Empowerment Project will provide women and girls with grants to enable them to start new businesses or expand their existing businesses across various sectors of our economy, as well as provide them with relevant training and mentoring so that they are successful in such business ventures.
Additionally, the project is expected to cover women’s access to land, credit facilities, and tools for agricultural development.
Within the context of this year’s global and national women’s day themes, the president assured that his government will continue to work closely with all partners and stakeholders in ensuring that women are empowered by “innovating with technology to promote gender equality.”.
He said his government will enhance its strategic partnerships with the private sector, with support from all stakeholders and donors, including the United Nations, European Union, World Bank, and Sweden, to ensure that the needed financial resources are available to support this objective.
In this regard, he believes that the government has already made some progress in bridging the digital gender gap on widening economic and social inequalities, as he highlighted the Call Center for the reporting of SGBV cases, as well as for maternal health issues, and child protection issues.
“As a government, we are now using the technology of mobile money to make electronic payments of daily subsistence allowances.” The Liberia Social Safety Nets Programs also utilize the mobile money platform to ensure that vulnerable households, particularly female-headed households, receive cash grant payments”, he said.
President Weah added that his government is leveraging digital inclusion for the economic empowerment of rural women entrepreneurs and smallholders by giving them improved access to markets, as well as training and other commercial opportunities, through the use of digital platforms.
In terms of disaster risk reduction, he noted that they continue to improve women’s access to risk transfer and finance by enhancing digitally mobile-enabled disaster alerts such as weather forecasts and climate-smart agricultural advisories on digital platforms.
At the same time, President Weah declared the month of March “Liberian Women’s Month”, and attributed his decision to the fact that Liberian women are so special and deserve more because they are powerful and resilient.
During this period, he called on everyone to join the Government of Liberia in celebrating the accomplishments of women, and encouraged everyone to continue to recognize the rights of women and to promote and support women.
He thanked and encouraged all governments’ international partners to continue their support and interventions as per his administration’s national development plan (the Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development) in order to achieve gender equality within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals.
This year’s Women’s Day is being observed under the global theme “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality” and under the national theme “Innovating with Technology to Promote Gender Equality”.
Globally, International Women’s Day is observed on March 8 of every year, but Liberia was forced to celebrate the day on the 3rd due to the observance of Decoration Day, which is a national holiday and will also be on March 8 of 2023.
International Women’s Day has been set aside annually to celebrate women’s accomplishments, to recognize their rights and power, to give women the prominence they deserve, to honor their voices that go unheard, their tears that go unnoticed, and their rights that are mostly dominated by their male counterparts.
