Monrovia – Damawa Singbee, a farmer and mother of six laments the difficulties she and other women in Liberia are experience just to get by.
Bettie K. Johnson Mbayo, [email protected]
From her farm activities in Rivercess County, she has been able to send her six children to school; two are currently in college, a feat she says makes her proud everyday. Nevertheless she says, it is disheartening that her county, Rivercess, is not involved in women empowerment, something she says is seriously hindering the growth of women in the county.
Damawa, was one of many women invited to an international colloquium in Monrovia Tuesday told FrontPageAfrica in the backdrop of the day’s festivities, that she hopes the government introduce night school or trade in her county so she and other women can be empowered.
“They told us to come for this program but all I can say is that we need to be involved in the planning and all initiatives in the country. Currently there is one high school in our county and there is no night school for us to at least to show us how to read and write our names.”
The program itself was colorful, drawing women from all parts of Liberia and other countries to the two-day international colloquium.
The colloquium global theme is “Be bold for change’ while the national theme is “women bold in change for a better world.”
In remarks, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said Liberian women have come too far to be marginalized by men.
She called for women participation in all sectors at the same time competing with their male counterparts in taking on leadership responsibility.
“Women today are people who stand up for their future and I’m proud that little girls can stand up and say they want to be stakeholders in society.”
President Sirleaf continued: “We have to put in more women in the Legislature because the future ahead is bright so I promised to stand behind you to face the difficulties ties.”
The former Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of the presidency Kingdom of Spain Ms. Maria Teresa Fernandes De La Vega, said she was glad to be back in Liberia following her last trip in 2009.
She said public service is about Gender equality with focus on women.
Madam De La Vega rained several accolades on President Sirleaf’s leadership in Liberia and the West Africa region.
For her part, Madam Donatille Mukabalisa. the speaker of chamber of Deputies of Rwanda Parliament stressed gender equality and women empowerment as she urged the Liberian government to focus on women empowerment because they are the champions of society. “Encouraging women in dialogue will be a great help because if such thing is done it will promote democracy.”
The colloquium offered women who were assembled from several parts of Liberia to share their stories and trumpet their challenges.
Korlu Kollie, one of the women in attendance, testified how she was a living witness to disadvantages because she was given a job by President Sirleaf after she explained she was kicked out of job because of her disability.
A session on enhancing women’s economic empowerment & entrepreneurship to reduce gender inequalities featured Ms. Eyvonne Bright, the C.E.O of Sharks Ice Cream. Ms. Bright shared some of the challenges she has been experiencing in her bid to maintain her Ice Cream company.
She lamented that the much-touted Liberianization policy was not being implemented fully by the government.
Bright has been in a tug-of-war with Lebanese merchants over rights to retail ice cream in the country.
Former President William V.S. Tubman, in the 1970s introduced the Liberianization policy as a means of protecting some industries from foreign competition with ice cream being one of those penciled in for Liberians.
In a statement in observance of the day, the European Union declared that it stands by women in Europe and around the globe today, as it did at the time of its foundation. “In 2017, there are more women in work, more women graduating from universities, and more women active in politics or in top positions at European companies than ever before. Within the Commission, women represent 55% of the total workforce. And yet, too many women, especially single mothers, are still struggling to reach economic independence in the European Union. The rate of women’s employment in the European Union reached an all-time high of 65.5% in 2016 and yet there is still a big difference with the 77% rate of men.”
The EU statement said that much more must be done both inside and outside of Europe. “Women are often among the most vulnerable, in conflicts, in situations of migration and displacement, and where poverty and climate change hit the hardest. In addition, there is an exponential growth in the numbers of female victims of trafficking arriving in the EU in the current migration context.”