House Speaker Richard Nagbe Koon has rally calls for urgent intervention to address the huge gap in the women representation in political leadership.
According to him, the facts and figures regarding women’s political leadership and participation are appalling as such demand our urgent intervention.
Speaking at the induction ceremony of the new women Legislative Caucus chair, Speaker Koon stated that the journey of women’s political leadership is not just a celebration of participation in the Legislature but rather it also serves as a moment to reflect on the ongoing struggle for the adequate and or equal representation of women in elected legislative positions and leadership decision-making processes.
As part of his commitment , Speaker Koon assures the body that he will mobilize the political will of his colleagues in the Lower House and in the Senate through leading a campaign of male champions, a campaign of He-for-She politicians who will work with this new corps of officers to reintroduce the New Election Law, ensuring the Bill is passed with all gender-sensitive provisions intact.
He stated that Liberia cant move ahead as a country and leave behind almost 50 percent of the population who are underrepresented in the Legislature.
“Therefore, as you begin this new chapter of the Women Legislative Caucus’ leadership journey, let us work together to increase the level of elected women in the legislature”, he re-emphasized.
Providing historical insight Speaker Koon indicated that since 2006 the proportion of women in the legislature has steadily declined.
Following 2023 presidential and legislative elections, women’s representation in the legislature stagnated at 10.7%, The number of women in the House of Representatives reduced by one and an additional woman added to the two women in the Senate, he told the gathering.
This means of the 73 seats in the lower house, women occupy only eight (8) while in the Senate with 30 seats, there are only three (3) women.
Evidently, he added that a major reason for the dismal representation of women is the absence of the legally binding gender quotas.
You all may recall that repeated attempts to pass mandatory gender quota to increase women’s political representation failed in 2004, in 2010-11, in 2016-17, and again in 2022-23.
Moreover, he informed the body that the recently revised election bill which also sought to increase women’s political leadership and participation was introduced by me in January 2022.
The Bill was passed by the House of Representatives in February 2022 with the amendments intact. However, Section 4.5 faced strong opposition in the Senate by July 2023, he added.
At the same time, he stated that Senators raised constitutional concerns and objected to penalizing parties that failed to meet the quota, citing gender biases in their arguments.
To secure passage in the senate, Section 4.5 was revised to retain the 30% requirement for party leadership and candidate listings, among other things.
I encourage this new leadership to highly prioritize changing this sad narrative of declining representation of women in the Legislature.
Meanwhile, Speaker Koon wish the next induction ceremony, they will see and celebrate the increased political participation of women in elected legislative positions.
