MONROVIA, Liberia—Women’s rights activists were jubilant when Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became Liberia and Africa’s first democratically elected female president in 2005. It was a historic achievement for Liberia and the continent, where women struggle for representation in male-dominated societies.
By R. Joyclyn Wea with New Narratives
But two decades later the number of women holding elected positions in Liberia is going backwards. In the most recent elections, women won just 10.7 percent of seats, a fall from 11 per cent in 2017, which was itself a record low. It is far below the average for Africa, of 26 percent.
“Women are underrepresented in elective office in Liberia—among the lowest in the world,” according to a 2022 World Bank report. Globally, Liberia is sixth from the bottom of of 162 countries on the Gender Inequality Index.
The outcome has made women’s rights activists irate.
“It’s unfortunate and frustrating that as a country, we have not been able to achieve [better representation],” said Amelia Siah Siaffa, Program Director at Sister Aid Liberia, a non-governmental organization focusing on gender equality.
In 2023, in an effort to stop the slide in women’s numbers, Liberian women’s rights advocates convinced political parties to commit to increasing the number of women legislative candidates to 30 percent. But the agreement was not enforceable and only one political party – the Liberia Transformation Party (LTP) – lived up to that pledge.
At the time, Abraham Tiaquicyl LTP party chairman said reaching 30 percent was an obvious choice.
“Women most of the time find it difficult to be more corrupt,” he said before the poll. “When women lead, there’s always a possibility of peace in a nation and accountability.”
The party achieved the quota by not putting women up against male candidates. They did not charge fees, which women often find harder to raise, and they did not conduct primaries.
The largest or strongest coalitions or parties did not come close. The former ruling Coalition for Democratic Change, had women in 11.5 percent of seats, the Liberty Party, in 10 percent, and the now-ruling Unity Party, in 17 percent.
To better understand the challenges women candidates faced during their parties’ nomination, Atty. Mmombeydo Joah, of the Organization for Women and Children organization, undertook a three-month study, with 22 participants.
The report said corruption and the requirement for women to raise funds were two major obstacles. “Political parties lacked mechanisms to prevent corrupt practices during the candidate nomination process,” the report found. “Political party, coalition or alliance requested unofficial money from aspirants.” The report also said the “National Elections Commission showed limited political will to hold political parties accountable to the ‘endeavor to ensure’ component of the new election law” as “women most times become victims to their male rivals because of lack of money.”
“The government must formulate a strategy for financing political parties that achieve parity,” said Joah. “Political parties must include in their various plan mobilization, recruitment, and training of women candidates.”
Victoria Koiquah overcame some of those obstacles when she ran for Montserrado senator in 2023. She was the Deputy Vice Chair for Political and International Affairs of the Alternative National Congress (ANC), headed by presidential candidate Alexander Benedict Cummings, one of the parties within the Collaborating Political Party (CPP), and won the party’s nomination as candidate.
But the process left Koiquah embittered. Colleagues claimed she did not have the numbers and political clout to stop the re-election of Saah Joseph of CDC
“I felt bullied. I felt insulted,” said Koiquah. “At one point they [party’s executives] went outside to look for people to come and contest against me during the primary.”
Cummings’ intervention ended the challenge.
“He said ‘We will have Victoria on the ticket,’” said Koiquah. “And he stood by his word. He talked to people and finally, I was the candidate for the CPP.”
Joseph eventually won the poll. But Koiquah felt belittled.
Liberia’s new President, Joseph Boakai has repeatedly pledged an inclusive government, but of a total of 237 appointments made so far 180 or one in every three, are men. Just 57 women, or one in every four appointees is a woman, according to UN-Women and Sister-Aid Liberia 2024 data.
It is not just an issue of rights. Leading economists have pointed out that equal representation of women leads to stronger economic growth. Liberia’s low numbers of women legislators is slowing the economy.
A joint study by the World Bank and Women in Parliament, an global organization of women parliamentarians, found women remain significantly underrepresented in political office globally, but over the last few decades, there has been a big increase in their numbers. Countries that have women leaders have seen an increase in sustained peace, and development. Sweden is the world’s leader in women’s representation. Sixty-seven percent of women in Sweden hold executive positions. Studies show that has spurred economic growth and could do the same elsewhere.
“If the female employment rate across the OECD [Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development] matched that of Sweden, OECD GDP could be boosted by over US$6 trillion,” according to a 2020 report by PricewaterhouseCoopers. OECD comprises the world’s biggest economies—including Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, France.
Rwanda leads the way in Africa, with “nearly two-thirds of its parliamentary seats and 52 percent of cabinet positions held by women, according to UN Women. The country has seen one of the world’s longest stretches of strong economic growth over the last 20 years with consistently rising standards of living.
Experts say Liberia must follow suit.
“Women are the backbone of our social structure, and they’re key to the existence of life in Liberia and Africa,” Nathanial Milton Barnes, ex-Finance Minister. “Women have always been the backbone of Liberia’s economy, especially in the informal economy. If it wasn’t for women, many of us would go hungry, if it wasn’t for women, many of us would be illiterate and uneducated. We need to recognize that. We need to accept that.”
Barnes said more financial support to women will be critical to breaching the gap between male and female candidates vying for elective office.
“If we say we want a certain number of women in our legislature, we must create the resources,” said Barnes. “Provide the resources and create the environment that will make it happen. Lots of women have ambitions to go into leadership positions, especially in the legislature, for example, but, they do not have the resources that will allow them to campaign effectively to be successful.”
Naomi Tulay, Executive Director of the Community Healthcare Initiative, which offers women and young girls in Liberia access to healthcare related to sexual reproduction, said women’s representation will help improve the lives of women and all people.
“Women can articulate well the issues of other women and be able to put in economic opportunities for other women to be empowered so they too can lead and learn,” Tulay said.
Women’s rights advocates said they are doubling their efforts to stop the backwards women’s slide in women’s representation and move Liberia’s equality and economy forwards.
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the “Investigating Liberia” project. Funding was provided by the Swedish Embassy and American Jewish World Service. The funder had no say in the story’s content.
