PHOTO: Tosematta Elliott thinks that a political candidate’s abilities should count before the gender
By Garmah Never Lomo, garmahlomo@gmail.com
Liberia’s December 8 elections and the very low rate of women candidates for the Senate seats serves as yet another proof that the case of women in politics is not advancing, and very little progress has been made to include women in the country’s governance and leadership roles.
The only female Senator, Nyonblee Karnga Lawrence of Grand Bassa county, is being contested and she may not be guaranteed to return to her seat. There are 20 female candidates to 98 male candidates contesting for 15 seats in the Special Senatorial Election, but their chance to being elected is abysmal.
Tosematta Elliott, student at the College of Health Science at the Tubman University, said that she would vote for a female candidate based on that person’s abilities and qualifications, and what she can do, but not because of her gender. Elliott described that in Liberia, men seem to be in charge of all issues concerning women, and they are even involved with advocacy for women.
Women must earn their trust
“Trusting a politician can be done based on their past work and results, and not because of gender. Female politicians can also be deceitful just as men are, and they have been known to abandon their campaign promises in the past,” Elliott said.
According to UNESCO, as of 2017, Liberia had 1,422,645 people above the age of 15 who were illiterate: they did not know how to read or write. Of this number, 509,919 (36%) were men and 912,725 (64%) were women deprived of education. Therefore, for every man deprived of education, there are two women who were deprived of education. This means that women are disproportionately disadvantaged when it comes to acquiring education to be able to compete with men for the same positions.
Women are disadvantaged when it comes to access to education, creating a serious handicap when they
try to compete with men for leadership positions. Source: UNESCO
Women understand the daily issues better than men
Martha Gbollie, also a student, said that if women were contesting in Maryland county in the senatorial election, she would definitely vote women because she believes that women are persuasive and have good lobbying powers even though men can do the same.
According to the final list of candidates approved by the National Elections Commission (NEC), there are eight men competing for a senatorial seat on behalf of Maryland county, but no women.
There are no women candidates from the Maryland county. Only 20 women compete against 98 men in the Senatorial Elections on December 8. Source: NEC
“Women are in the best position to understand women’s issues and find solutions, because they are the ones faced with the problems. I do not trust male politicians because the majority are experts at lying, while women are more concerned about values and about their public image and will tend to be more truthful with the electorate,” Gbollie explained.
“Women are the custodians of homes, and because of that, they are on top of most of the societal issues, while men who are always busy with other things,” she said. Most women know the difficulties of life, and when they get to positions of power and leadership, they already know the challenges ordinary people.
Women must have the courage to challenge positions traditionally held by men
“What female politicians should do, in order to be elected, is to firstly muster the courage to take the bold step to run for elections, and then to be consistent with their promises,” said Gbollie.
Martha Gbollie, student, believes that women must step out and run for elected positions in higher numbers
Gbollie believes that regardless of their gender, a good politicians should always fulfill their promises made during the elections campaign period because there is no other sure way to lose trust with the people than to abandon the promises you made before they gave you their vote.
And, if for some reason the women politicians cannot keep their promises, “the must always go back to their constituents and inform them that promises made weren’t fulfilled. There may be some disappointed people and some backlash, but it is better for the women to be bold and explain their shortcomings than to be perceived as liars,” Gbollie said.
Women are fearless
Tawah Fayiah, at Fishtown, said that in order for a woman to win an election, she must start working from the grassroots. “I would vote for women, because women are fearless and want to see good things coming from all of their efforts.”
Fayiah added that women politicians’ issues are different from those of men. “Women are bullied and literally insulted in most instances by both their male rivals and some members of the public. Besides, there is a general tendency to consider their bid for any good position is mere joke, she said.
Joeida T. Clutiah, a teacher at Fishtown Junior high school, said that for her the most important aspect in a political candidate is not the gender, but the qualification of that person.
“Women are equally knowledgeable about issues affecting the society, as they are confronted daily by these issues. They understand the trending debates and are equally capable of making sound, intellectual contributions to the arguments,” she said.
Another reason she could for a female candidate is that women issues are not being high on the agenda at the Legislature because it is run by men.
She added that reason why men politicians usually win election is that they devote more time to politics than women and not because they are more educated than the women.
But while these views are genuine, the reality shows that women have less access to education than men. UNESCO data shows that 63% of all Liberian man over the age of 15 are literate and have had some form of education. By comparison, only 34% of all Liberian women over the age of 15 are literate.