In 2003, Liberia’s civil war ended and we were free of warlord Charles Taylor. But with 75% of Liberians living in absolute poverty and a legacy of 60,000 traumatised ex-fighters – some of whom were women and girl sex slaves – there was no rosy ending. Murder, rape and other forms of gender violence were weapons of choice during the war. Women are still seen as ‘expendable’, despite the fact that we elected Africa’s first female president in 2005. A significant portion of the male population sees this political change as an affront, and our woman president as a bad joke.
I joined ActionAid Liberia as the Women’s Rights Co-ordinator to use my rebellious nature to question the inequality for women and girls in Liberia. We work in an extremely difficult environment. Women, young girls and in some cases, babies are raped on a daily basis. Access to justice and other rights is difficult, for example there is mass resistance by courts towards our new rape law. Count how few women appear in our newspapers; ask why billboards welcome visitors to Liberia with a pretty girl beckoning; stories of violence against women do not get into the media, and when they do, they are paid for by the likes of ActionAid working on gender and women’s rights – male editors are not interested.
Understand these things you’ll see why the fight for women’s rights in Liberia is not for the faint-hearted. My blood pressure and grey hair could outstrip an Olympic runner. My family ask me, why don’t you resign and have peace? The below story tells why I don't.
One day, in Putu Jarwode, southeast Liberia, an old man joined us in a community workshop. While the issue of women’s rights was – albeit unwillingly – raised, the man asserted his belief that women’s sole reason for being was to provide children and sex to men. Local mothers told me that girls as young as 11 were sexually active. The old man warned ActionAid not to criticise this practice since the girls were ‘women by night and girls by day’. According to him, no one had died and women were made for these things. This explanation was like a punch to my belly, a sharp tug to my heart. Not only that, but it seemed entirely possible that I was the only one shocked at this revelation. How can ActionAid respond to this countrywide problem when it is carried out in the name of culture and tradition?
Whether it’s 11-year-old girls in southeast Liberia, exposed to rape, early marriage and HIV, or the HIV-positive women who see their rapists hold office in the legislature, ActionAid’s focus on women’s rights is bringing change. We work as part of the Women Won’t Wait Coalition, prioritising the battle against HIV and violence against women, drawing attention to the link between the two. In fact, the link between HIV and violence against women has become ActionAid Liberia’s ‘burden’, with donors and others working on HIV demanding ‘empirical evidence’ for our assertion.
The evidence, if more were needed, comes as I sit in a room with members of the Liberian Women’s Empowerment Network – LIWEN – the only network of HIV positive women in Liberia. One woman states that she was raped by four men, who gashed her neck, and left her for dead. When another young woman named a notorious rebel commander as her rapist and said, ‘during the war I was raped by Jack the Rebel’, I was too deep in tears to continue typing on my laptop. ActionAid serves as a mentor to this network, raising money to reach people in Liberia who claim that HIV is a scam by western countries to ‘discourage sex’.
While access to justice and other rights is difficult, new laws are changing women’s position and condition. More girls are going to school, even though some teachers – laced with local gin and unwilling to see the difference between a woman and a girl – are waiting for them. ActionAid Liberia works in 30 communities in western Liberia, providing uniforms, text books, after school programmes and skills training for older girls and women. Women’s rights and leadership training have been conducted to highlight the potential role of the communities in ending violence against women and girls.
Women are now demanding that policy makers look at their needs, especially on HIV and violence. In the recent Global AIDS Week of Action, ActionAid and LIWEN marched on the legislature to demand access to treatment and care, and an end to stigma and discrimination. The organization has prioritised women in political leadership and there is now an unprecedented inclusion of women in government, despite legislative rejections and resistant attitudes.
Finally, I asked a group of protection officers, working for a local NGO, a tricky question: “What would happen in communities if boys were raped on a daily basis?” They looked to make sure I was as sane. Their reply was: “People would be angry and take the cases to court. There would be no compromise.”
“Why?” I asked. “Rape of a boy is abnormal,” they almost screamed at me. My silent response was 'and what is it for a girl or woman'?
Change will come. The change is slow but sure. Counting all of this, it is still a good day to be called a Liberian woman, a change-maker, especially one who works for ActionAid.
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