Helping Our People Excel
MONROVIA – Several leaders and advocates for the protection of the rights of women and girls in Liberia have strongly condemned Montserrado County District 16 Representative Dixon Seboe and his Chief of Staff, Robert Anderson, for “offensive and outdated” comments made against young females pursuing educational opportunities abroad.
By Obediah Johnson
It can be recalled that Rep. Seboe recently justified his exclusion of females from his international scholarship opportunities, which have been characterized by controversies.
“When you send people out of the country, they’re far away from home; we live in an evil world, and we’ve got to be careful. If I take someone’s daughter and send her to a foreign land, the pain that I will bear will be far-reaching,” Rep. Seboe stated while responding to an inquiry during the presentation of his long-delayed legislative report to the district recently.
The inquiry stemmed from the lawmaker’s decision to send six males to Rwanda to advance their studies, without considering a single female.
His Chief of Staff, Robert Anderson, reportedly bragged that the decision of his boss to exclude females from his foreign scholarship was intended to prevent these females from being impregnated in a foreign land.
“Basically, the Chief was trying to predict avoidance of problems mainly pregnancy, or mixing up girls and boys together. Remember, those six were the first batch of students. We needed to be certain they were kept together and avoid unnecessary problem,” Anderson was quoted by a local media.
But speaking in an interview with FrontPage Africa in the Borough of New Kru Town, outside Monrovia on Tuesday, March 3, the women advocates, including residents described the comments from Rep. Seboe and Anderson as stereotypical, discriminatory and harmful to young females who are eager to acquire higher tertiary education abroad.
According to them, the comments from the duo are “Outdated and Offensive.”
They emphasized that these statements reinforce long-standing stereotypes that portray girls as liabilities or sources of potential scandal rather than capable and responsible individuals.
The acting Executive Director of the Paramount Young Women Initiative Hawa Wilson, who previously benefitted from a scholarship opportunity abroad, observed that the comments against the provision of international scholarships to women diminish the achievements of Liberian women who have excelled internationally.
She pointed out that hundreds of Liberian women provided scholarship opportunities have returned home and are immensely contributing to the growth and development of Liberia in various sectors.
She made specific reference to the current youthful Vice Principal for Academic Affairs Madam Kimberlyn Annan at the Lott Carey Baptist Mission school who was provided an opportunity to advance her studies in Cyprus.
She called for the equitable provision of scholarship opportunities to deserving Liberians, regardless of their sex, by elected public officials and others.
Madam Wilson maintained that negative perception or mindset should not be used as a yardstick to deny young women the opportunities to pursue their education abroad.
“There are guidelines and policies promoting inclusive education for all. I think the approach of sending only males for scholarships abroad is outdated. Over the period of time everything has been male dominated. In line with modernization, scholarships should be provided in a way that both sex or gender can be able to participate,” she noted.
Madam Wilson attributed the low access of women to international scholarship opportunities to gender stereotypes.
She maintained that women would be able to compete with their male counterparts in various field of studies, especially engineering, if their are given similar opportunities as compared to males.
“I hundred percent disagree with people who think that when you sent women abroad for scholarship opportunities they would be impregnated. I am a beneficiary of an opportunity from the United States government. I went there and did not get pregnant and I also returned and I am contributing immensely to my society,” she stated.
She maintained that harmful gender stereotypes, including negative mindset and harmful cultural barriers must not hinder the provision of academic opportunities to women and girls.
“That statement was very offensive. Is our Representative simply trying to tell us that we cannot travel abroad for studies because he will face problems or men will impregnant us? We think that his reason for not including women in his scholarship to study abroad is unjustifiable,” Dennise Weah, a resident of the Borough stated.
She maintained that it is troubling that in this new dispensation, struggling young female students and graduates are still being considered as “back-benchers” instead of being seen as productive future leaders.
The women advocates argued that linking female students abroad primarily to concerns about pregnancy unfairly singles them out and ignores the shared responsibility of both male and female students.
The women and girls advocates observed that these negative perceptions against females undermine years of progress in promoting gender equality in education and leadership.
They further noted that safeguarding students abroad should apply equally to all participants, regardless of gender.
According to Alfreda Foboi Nmah, Executive Director of Helping Our People Excel, those making these stereotypical comments against qualified and competent Liberian females are only scapegoating to also avoid providing opportunities for women.
She maintained that these individuals cannot point to any statistical report to substantiate their claims that most women sent abroad for studies dropped out due to pregnancies.
“Girls getting pregnant does not in any way stop them from acquiring education. These kinds of statement have the propensity to undermine the gains that have been made in advancing gender equity. Women and girls should be allowed to access to education whether they are pregnant or not. Do you know the ratio between girls who get pregnant abroad and those who graduated? I think they are trying to find excuse why girls should be excluded from educational opportunities,” Nmah maintained
Also speaking, the Head of the Federation of Borough Women Georgia Baryor said women should be given equal opportunity as men to acquire higher education both locally and internationally.
The group is an advocacy group established to protect the rights of women, girls and children in Liberia.
She observed that though Representative Seeboe is on record for upporting women capacity building in the district, young Liberian females should have been considered to benefit from his international scholarships.
“The reason for not sending females for scholarship abroad is best known to Representative Seboe himself. He has his money and I cannot tell him how to use his money. But I believe that scholarships should be provided to both men and women,” she noted.
She maintained that those provision scholarships to citizens, who cannot afford, should take into consideration gender equity. Meanwhile, the women’s groups and advocates are calling on Representative Seboe and his Chief of Staff to apologize for the “offensive” comments.
“Our lawmaker needs to tell us clearly what did he mean by that statement. We need to hear from him because, many of us are thinking that we may not even benefit from his scholarship to go and study abroad,” Sarah Nimely stated.
They stressed the need elected and other public officials to undergo gender-sensitivity training to avoid reinforcing stereotypes and bias in executing their various responsibilities.
“Public officials must understand the weight of their words. When leaders speak, they shape attitudes. We must move away from narratives that police girls’ behavior more harshly than boys,” Madam Patricia Simpson stated.
