By Bill W. Cooper
The Women Legislative Caucus of Liberia (WLCL) has conducted a day-long electoral reform public hearing on the New Elections Law of Liberia as the quests for 30 percent women’s participation continue to intensify.
The hearing which took place in the joint chambers of the Capitol Building brought together scores of political parties’ representatives, civil society groupings, women’s groups, traditional leaders, students and several lawmakers, among others.
With support from the UN Women in collaboration with the Committees on Judiciary, Elections and Inauguration, Good Governance and Government Reform, Gender Equity, Children and Social Protection, the hearing was intended to amend Section 4.5 of the Election Law captioned ‘Nominations of Candidates.’
The Chairperson of the WLCL, Rosana Schaack, expressed hope in finalizing and finding a way forward in ensuring that women get their 30 percent quota.
According to the House Committee Chairperson on Gender, Equity, Children and Social Protection, there has been a lot of hurdles concerning the proposed amendment, but with the support from members of the Legislature, she is hopeful that women will now have the opportunity to participate in the political governance processes in the country.
The Executive Director and Legal Counsel of the ORWOCH, Mmonbeydo Nadine Joah who blamed the low percentage of women in the Legislature since 2006 from 14 percent in 2011, 12 percent in 2014, 11 percent in 2017 and under 10 percent in 2021 to the inadequate support from political parties said the needs for the 30 percent women’s participation cannot be overemphasized.
She explained that a nation is valued by its representative democratically and therefore, women cannot be excluded from decisions that affect their lives and expect adequate representation noting that, if women are not at the table, issues that mainly affect them in general do not get much attention.
According to her, they are yet to convince men that gender equality is not a zero-sum game and that men do not have to lose for women to gain instead, men and women sharing power benefits everyone and the country at large, emphasizing, “When men and women make decisions together, everybody in the country benefits.”
Atty Joah added, “Equal gender representation is the right, just and democratic thing to do because females are half the population; an equal and proportional representation of women is also the smartest thing to do because it will benefit our communities and our country as a whole.”
The Chairperson on the House’s Committee on Good Governance and Government Reform, Larry Younquoi, lauded his colleagues for conducting such hearing which will enabled others understand the rationale behind the push for the 30 percent women’s participation.
Nimba County District 6 Representative pledged his committee fullest support as well as promised to lobby with his male colleagues in ensuring that the proposed amendment is passed when the final report hits plenary.
It can be recalled that Section 4.5(1) (c) of the Elections Law calls for a list of candidates to be submitted to the Commission for an election and that the party should endeavor to ensure that no less than 30 percent of the candidates on the list are from each gender.
The proposed amendment as of July 27, 2020 in Section 4.5(1) (c) states that, ‘A list of candidates submitted to the Commission for an election shall have no less than 30 percent of the candidates from each gender.”
Section 4.5 paragraph (1) of the New Elections Law of 1986 is also amended by adding counts 1d and 1e which states in Section 4.5 (1d) that, “A political party or coalition shall have at least one women contestant for the primary at the convention for each constituency it nominates a candidate.”
While section 4.5(1e) read; ‘A political party or coalition whose list from its convention or primary does not satisfy the required quota for gender, such list shall be rejected by the NEC upon submission and the affected party may be entitled to re-submission within the required period.”