Liberia played the role of unexpected host for “The International Women’s Colloquium on Women’s Empowerment, Leadership and Development,” held this year on International Women’s Day (March 8) under the title ‘Women Unite: Lift Liberia, Lift Africa, Lift The World!’ For a country known best for a notoriously gruesome 14-year civil war (1989 – 2003) and with a subsequently deplorable record of gender issues, many saw this as a major step for the small, West African nation.

Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female head of state, along with Finish president Tarja Halonen, convened of the event. Finland, which ranked second on the 2008 Global Gender Gap Index, and Liberia, which is still not included, represent the wide disparity in opportunities for women around the world.

“This Colloquium provides an opportunity to continue to push for equal rights and equal opportunity in every sense, thereby ensuring that 50 per cent of the world’s population has the chance to reach their fullest potential,” Sirleaf stated at the opening.

“Special focus should be directed at educating, capcitating and empowering girls and young women,” she explained to the 400 primarily female leaders from around the world, and 400 local leaders on hand for the event.

The Colloquium also marked the opening of the Angie Brooks Center, a facility that will “support the implementation of action emerging from the Colloquium through, inter alia, training and research,” explains the Colloquium website. It will be the first of its kind in West Africa.

Governor General: ‘Ignoring the plight of women inexcusable’

By most accounts, Canadian Governor General Michaelle Jean stood out among these distinguished guests. Jean, who committed to the conference after meeting Sirleaf on a visit to Canada in 2007, spoke passionately of her experiences with women around the world, and the necessity of women playing a more central role in leadership.

“I have always thought that ignoring the plight of women is not only an inexcusable lack of responsibility,” Jean stated emphatically, “but also an unjustifiable crime against humanity. This conviction goes to the very heart of my civic engagement.”

Her speech elicited positive responses throughout the crowd.

Packed conferences tackled issues such as ‘Economic Empowerment of Women,’ ‘Gender and Climate Change,’ and Security Council Resolution 1325 — a resolution that deals more specifically with protecting women’s rights during conflict.

Lip service only for Liberian women?

And while organizers and supporters lauded the rare opportunity for such a meeting, many Liberians felt the event catered too heavily to the international guests, only paying lip service to local Liberian and the challenges they face.

“The money could be better spent. Because when you spend it on [the visitors], they still say the place is not good enough for them,” Jade Brewer, a local student who participated in the opening of the colloquium stated. “They don’t really care about Liberia,” echoed her peer, Ashley Cooper.

Others saw benefits to the Colloquium’s format.

S. Mayumi Grigsby, the special assistant to the Colloquium Manager, pointed to the fact that it opened dialogue between leaders that may not have otherwise met, provided a forum to discuss women’s issues too often ignored, and provided positive international exposure for Liberia.

“With Liberia being the host, there are so many opportunities for the country, and there is a lot of opportunity for delegates to learn about Liberia from the people here,” Grigsby underlined, pointing to the fact that even the leaders came in contact with ‘average’ Liberians such as drivers or Colloquium volunteers.

The ‘average’ Liberian faces difficult statistical odds.

UN statistics show that 60 per cent of Liberian women have at some point been exposed to sexual violence, while 80 per cent of the nation are without jobs, and 70 per cent are illiterate: the difference in opportunity between conference attendees and local women was notably massive.

Bitter irony for country’s poor

This created a bitter sense of irony between the successes of the conference and the realities faced by the nation’s poor. From local women who were evicted to ‘beautify’ the area in front of a major hotel, to the women running the stalls at the Colloquium without a contract for pay, to the women selling water just across the road who knew nothing about the event, critics felt the conference overlooked some of the nation’s hardest hit citizens.

Lady Bas, a grandmother of 61 years, is one of these women. She sells water, mosquito coils and other ‘small things’ from her makeshift stall, in plain view of the SKD Stadium, the site of the event.

“For some of us in the neighbourhood,” she says of her fellow female street sellers on the outskirts of the capital city of Monrovia, “it is very hard to just get food to eat. Myself, I have not eaten any food yet today [3 pm], just cold water.”

For Bas, and many other women, seeing or feeling any contact to the visitors would have improved her appreciation of the event’s significance.

“I would be happy, I would love, if one of them would come sit and talk with me,” Lady Bas said of the visitors. “I would be happy because when they come, and they ask me questions, I could explain my condition, and they will have me in mind tomorrow.”

However, Grigsby admitted with mild regret, most of the attendees left Monday, without seeing much of Liberia beyond the conference and the hotel rooms.

 

Myles Estey lives and works in Monrovia, Liberia as a freelance journalist. He runs the blog ‘The Esteyonage‘ — which deals with news, issues and ideas from West Africa. He can also be heard Wednesday and Thursday evenings on Vancouver’s ‘The Dave Brindle Show,’ 6 – 8 p.m., on 1410 AM.