MONROVIA, Liberia—Joseph Boakai used his second State of the Nation Address this January to promote a big step for women: 39 percent of his ministers – seven out of 19 – are women, the highest ratio of female to male ministers in Liberia’s history.
By: Joyclyn Wea with New Narratives
President Boakai hailed it as a reflection of women’s talent and competence. Women’s advocates celebrated the milestone saying that having so many women in senior roles in the executive would inevitably lead to greater equality and opportunities for women.
But Rosana Schaack, former representative for River Cess County and member of the Women’s Legislative Caucus, warned that the real seat of power in Liberia was still out of reach: At the national Legislature, women have gone backward.
“I think there’s a need to do more, particularly getting women into the Legislature, and ensuring those there are retained in pending elections because this is where decisions around life and matters of the country are made.”
In the 2023 election, women won just 10.7 percent of legislative seats, according to World Bank gender data, lower than the level 20 years ago. It’s also far behind the global and sub-Saharan African averages of 27 percent. This is all the more surprising because Liberia was the first country on the continent to break the presidential glass ceiling when it elected the continent’s first woman president in 2005.
Source: World Bank data
Experts say this paradox of surging representation in appointed positions, while elected offices remain male-dominated, offers a window into the broader struggles for gender equality in the country. The Legislature is the key.
“That is where decisions are being made that affect women and any laws that need to be amended that’s where it is amended, so the Legislature is very critical,” said Atty Mmonbeydo Joah, head of the Organization for Women and Children, which provides mentorship and legal aid for women in politics. With equal numbers of men and women in the Legislature, “Liberia will run the way it is supposed to run with both men’s and women’s perspectives on the table.”
When Ellen Johnson Sirleaf made history in 2006 as Africa’s first elected female president, it seemed to herald a new era for women’s political participation. She joked at an event in 2010 that she would have liked to appoint only women.
“Women lead with a sensitivity to humankind,” she told the crowd. “They work harder. Because they’ve always played a dual role. They’ve carried the family, and professional women have also carried the job responsibility. If I could have found them, I would have made an all-woman cabinet.”
Under her two-term regime, women’s representation in cabinet positions reached 28 percent with women including Frances Johnson-Morris, Antoinette Sayeh, Marjon Kamara, and Florence Chenoweth in ministerial posts.
President Sirleaf meets then- United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, in Liberia.
Women’s ministerial representation stayed about the same under George Weah’s presidency, with five women in his ministry in addition to Vice President Jewel Taylor Howard
Kula Fofana, President Boakai’s press spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment for this article, but in a women’s town hall meeting in July 2024, President Boakai praised women.
“Women don’t just think about work as an occupation. They think everything is a vocation, it’s a commitment,” said. President Boakai. “And this is why we need more and more women. In all that we do and say, the greater burden of a nation lies in the women. We enjoy working with women. The women that we have appointed are capable and they are performing.”
Such endorsements from the highest office have not been enough to see government enact policies that empower women and girls in access to justice, healthcare, education, labor force participation, and all areas of Liberian life according to advocates.
“The Legislature functions by numbers,” said Madam Schaack. “If you do not have more women there to start with, to build your base, then those women won’t be able to lobby and get the support of their male counterparts on gender issues.”
Advocates Call on Legislators to Follow Sierra Leone’s Lead
Liberia’s struggles with women’s political representation stand in contrast to most African countries. Rwanda leads the continent with 61.3 percent of women in parliament. In 2023 neighboring Sierra Leone saw a dramatic rise in the number of women lawmakers to 28 percent.
That jump came after the passage of the groundbreaking Gender Empowerment and Women’s Equality Act of 2022 which states that 30 percent of public and private jobs must be reserved for women. The law also ringfenced senior positions for women in the workplace, ensuring at least 14 weeks of maternity leave, equal access to bank credit, and training opportunities.
A 2022 attempt to pass a similar law in Liberia – an amendment to the New Elections Law – failed. The amendment would have made it mandatory for parties to fill thirty percent of candidate seats with women. The National Elections Commission would have been empowered to fine or delist parties that failed to adhere to the quotas. It is not clear why it has not been made into law. Then-president Weah vetoed several other proposed amendments, but he denied he vetoed this one. Legislators and women’s advocates claim he did.
Instead, Liberian parties follow a 2014 amendment to the National Election Law that urges parties to “endeavor to ensure” at least 30 percent female representation on their candidate lists, with no means of enforcement. National Election Commission data on the most recent elections show only 152 of the 1,030 representative candidates were women. The senatorial race showed even lower female participation, with just 7 women among 100 candidates.
Of the 25 political parties that signed a commitment to meet the threshold, only two smaller parties—the Transformation Party and the Reformers National Congress – met the 30 percent threshold. Among major parties, the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP), led by former presidential candidate Alexander Cummings, came closest with 26 percent female representation. By contrast, ex-President George Weah’s Coalition for Democratic Change fielded only 12 women among its 82 candidates, less than 15 percent.
Women’s groups have not given up on passing the gender quota bill. Charlyne Brumskine, a lawyer and former vice-presidential candidate for the CPP in 2023, said with increasing women’s political participation being one of President Boakai’s priorities, he should push his Unity Party legislators to reach across the floor to opposition political parties to ensure the bill passes this year. “We need to ensure that female political participation in elected and appointed positions meets at a minimum 40 percent quota,” Cllr. Brumskine said. “This is critical to the forward movement of our nation.”
Cllr. Brumskine on the campaign trail in 2023.
The Organization for Women and Children plans a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of ex-President Weah’s actions on the 2022 failed bill.
“The number in the Legislature is dismal and it needs the political will of all institutions to improve this,” Atty Joah said. “That’s why we have been very diligent in filing a freedom of information request to ensure that we file a declaratory judgment because we know that the veto was unconstitutional.”
Money Remains a Major Barrier
The challenges of raising the money required to run and win continue to be a major obstacle to women who are less likely to have the income or access to funds that men have. Just paying the costs to run can be prohibitive.
Filing fees for independent presidential candidates are $US2,500 – more than the cost for those running on party tickets. Independent Senatorial candidates pay $US750, while a House of Representatives candidate pays $US500. That is near to the average annual income of Liberians.
Victoria Koiquah, former senatorial aspirant. Credit: Joyclyn Wea/New Narratives
All candidates must also demonstrate a minimum bank balance of $10,000. On the campaign trail money buys radio airtime, social media advertising, and campaigning support. And, finally, cashed-up candidates will often use money to buy votes.
Madam Schaack calls the problem “cash violence.” “Men come in with cash,” she said. “Because of the abject poverty of the majority of our people, they will more be cued towards getting benefits out of voting for a man.”
Victoria Koiquah was a new aspirant in the 2023 campaign. Despite securing more than 50,000 votes in the Montserrado senatorial race according to the National Elections Commission, Koiquah said it was difficult to get money to adequately run her campaign. This affected her visibility in some communities within Montserrado.
“We have to involve the men to see how we can raise money to help the women with their campaign,” Koiquah said. “Sometimes the women go through all the processes, but they don’t even have the first dollar to have a poll watcher.”
Poll watchers serve as the candidate’s eyes and ears during the electoral process, helping to spot potential voting irregularities and verify vote-counting accuracy.
And then there are what women leaders describe as psychological barriers.
“I think it’s more about fear and stereotypes,” said Angel Malema-Morris, assistant minister for Cultural Affairs. “Many women in this country have similar desires to participate in governance, but they feel within themselves that what if I try and fail, I will be considered as a failure.”
Once they make it to government, with so few other women in power, things are not easy. Saywah Gba, assistant minister for public affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, recalled her early struggles. Saywah recently made a Facebook post urging the president to change the way he deals with corrupt officials. Her post was viewed as controversial by co-workers.
“You endure a lot, especially in a politically charged environment,” Madam Gba said. “It is almost like a child going to school and you have to take whatever the teacher gives you. You wouldn’t want to take up the suppression as something to demotivate you. But serve with integrity and do your best on the job.”
Mentorship and Peer Support is Key
Women leaders said women need support systems and mentorship. Organizations like the Organization for Women and Children provide training in public speaking, leadership skills, and campaign management. In 2020, the organization and women’s rights campaigners raised funds for Senator Botoe Kanneh and Edith Gongloe Wreh’s as they fought legal cases brought against their campaigns.
They’re also trying to persuade men to reduce the violence against women in politics, which often manifests as online bullying and harassment.
“Violence against women in politics is one of the barriers that limit women’s participation,” Joah said. “It tells other young girls that, look, if you come here, this is a nasty place. We represent women in courts of law to challenge this perception. ”
Within the political parties the work continues. Last month the Liberty Party announced it had achieved 50 percent female representation among party leadership.
“We will continue to champion policies that uplift women and girls, because we understand that the progress of any nation depends on the progress of its women,” Rugie Barry, chairperson of the party, pledged.
“President Boakai has already opened the corridor for us,” Madam Morris said. “It’s all embedded within us right now to take that as a very huge opportunity and see how we can press forward. This is a platform for you actually to tell the Liberian people that you are capable.”
“Nobody’s coming to save us,” Brumskine agreed. She called on women to keep working together to find innovative ways to overcome the challenges. “Maybe money is your weakness, but maybe the way you are in the community is your strength.”
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the “Investigating Liberia” project. The Swedish Embassy provided funding, but the funder had no say in the story’s content.
