Monrovia – The steady decrease of females from eight percent in 2012 to three percent currently in the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) has urged panelists at 63rd Armed Forces Day Symposium to raise serious concerns about the issue of gender-sensitivity in the army.
The 63rd Armed Forces Day Symposium which took place at Monrovia City Hall on Wednesday, February 5, 2020, brought together panelists mostly women from the government, diplomatic sector, civil society and also international partners to discuss the importance of women joining the AFL.
The theme of the symposium was “Strategies to incorporate more females in the security sector: AFL in perspective”.
Serving as keynote speaker, the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, Cllr Jamesstta Wolokolie, explained how women can play an important role by imparting the society when they are in the army. According to her, people are more relaxed with women than men. She added that people speak to who they feel comfortable with.
“When I was growing up, I used to run whenever I see an army man and if it was a woman, I do not think I was going to run,” Cllr Wolokolie said.
She called for the increase of females in the AFL. Associate Justice Wolokolie urged women wanting to be recruited to not relax but to be on the par with their male counterparts in making the AFL a force for good.
“It is not because we want to set an international standard but we want more women to build the image and integrity of our army. We are not looking for women who are looking for jobs to feed their families. We want women that will help to build up the AFL image,” Cllr. Wolokolie stressed.
Adding up, the Deputy Director of Liberia Immigration Service (LIS) Asatu Bah Kenneth disclosed the low presence of females in the area of decision making of the security apparatus in the country.
“Low salary, maternity leave, specialized skills, and other things are hampering women from joining the army. AFL should organize programs that will encourage women to join the army. Let us change those batches that have patrol-men on them to patrol-officers and bring in skirts for our women, too,” she said.
Also among the panelists was former Information Minister Rev. Emmanuel Bowier. Rev. Bowier explained that besides the 1980 Coup d’etat, women have been involved in so many positive things in the army.
The former Information Minister said: “We had women in the army that brave like men. We should not discredit them.”
For her part, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army Forces of Liberia Brigadier General Geraldine George encouraged women to be part of the next recruitment process which she said would take place anytime.
She added that before the recruitment takes place, there will be a special training section for women only. This, she said will enable women to fully prepare when the regular training begins.