By Grace Q. Bryant
Medica-Liberia joined the world in celebration of this year’s International Women’s Day by recognizing women’s contributions while creating awareness in communities on Sexual Gender Base Violence (SGBV).
The campaign which kicked off at the Old Road Gaye Town Field extended into other parts of Montserrado County under the theme, “Break the barriers, setting the stage for gender equality,” brought together cross section of women as well as partners and government officials.
The Day which seeks to reminisce women’s value across the world recognizing the struggle’s women experience to gain equality and equal rights globally and to reflect the significant progress women made around the globe, one of the working groups’ leader, Annette Mclntosh explained that it is also a time to call for change and celebrate the act of courage and determination by ordinary women who have and are playing extraordinary roles in the history of their countries and communities.
She noted that the first celebration of IWD was held on February 20, 1909 to honor the 1908 garment women’s strike in New York and that in 1977, the General Assembly Resolution declared a United Nation Day women’s rights and international peace in recognition of the role of women in peace and development efforts, thus calling for an end of discrimination and increase support women full and equal participation.
According the psychosocial counselor for medica Liberia, Veronica Rennie Marshall, the awareness was done in one of the 12 community’s which is Gaye Town thereby explaining, “We called crowds through culture troops and performances of violence perpetrated in homes both positively and negatively.”
She further explained that the purpose of the awareness is that the awareness is for people to have to knowledge that violence is not the way forward and women should be seen as important as men; they should be valued because women played most of the roles in the home.
She maintained that celebrating such day gives people the picture of what violence is, adding that majority of the women are grieving because they are going through psychological problems and their minds are not at peace.
She further explained that when someone forcibly coherence you into sexual act, it brings pains and stigma.
Meanwhile, Montserrado County Coordinator, Benedict Nyge, congratulated Liberia on its 200 years of existence as well as the women of Liberia for withstanding the storms to celebrate the IWD with Medica Liberia which have been a good partner with gender especially at the county level.
