Two Liberian media developers are calling for a halt to all forms of women stereotyping and gender biases that undermines women’s political participation and representation during elections in Liberia.
Ladymai Hunter Summon and Varnetta Johnson Freeman – professional Liberian female journalists said, despite the role women are playing in the social and economic spheres, women are faced with many challenges that attribute to their underrepresentation in national decision making.
Giving details on the under representation of women, they cited the low women representation at the National Legislature, the cabinet, Political Parties leadership and key national institutions in Liberia.
Madam Summon and Freeman said sadly, there are 11 women in the national legislature which is about 10 percent of the total of 103 members of the legislature.
They said in these upcoming elections, there are only 159 women contesting political seats of the total of 1,059 accepted candidates which is 15% something that casts a dark shadow on the number of women in the national legislature after the upcoming elections.
The 2 female media professionals spoke at ALJA’s 11th annual convention in Minneapolis, MN , on the topic: “The challenges facing women’s political participation and representation in Liberia: The role of the media”.
The proffered a few recommendations to ALJA including Partnership with the Press Union of Liberia PUL, the Female Journalists Association in Liberia FeJAL, the Media management and Editors to conduct periodic gender-sensitive trainings for journalists at all levels in Liberia; Engage media owners and managers to see the need to recruit more females in the media; and Partner with the PUL to establish fellowship program on the promotion of women’s rights especially women political participation .
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