On July 15, 2010 over a dozen practitioners from central Liberia gathered at the invitation of Cerue Konah Garlo to discuss the question: “How do local community dwellers understand gender dynamics?” Recent years have seen rapid developments in international law and human rights instruments that address women issues with a particular focus on gender. These developments aim to promote, inspire, and support international development policy and practice with a view to furthering the goal of equality between women and men.
This concept is new in Liberia where there have been lots of training for different stakeholders to make them appreciate and except these new values. Participants at the July 15th event insisted that there are many questions that they feel need to be answered in order to help them understand the true meaning of gender and gender equality. One participant wondered if “‘gender’ means to put women on board, or put women on top?” She also explained that at the Development Education Network Liberia (DEN-L) [10] all women manage the gender program without male staff. “Is this suggesting that only women can do gender work or gender means women?” Participants agreed that there is a need to create more awareness on gender and the true intent and spirit taking into account the diversity of Liberian culture.
Another female participant emphasized the need to reflect upon the possibility that this new concept could have a negative connotation for some in Liberia. “The issues of gender are about people power and it could breathe conflict at the family and community levels.” She said that the concept of gender empowerment has increased domestic violence in Liberia recalling a situation about how a woman attended a gender workshop Liberia. Sometime after the workshop her husband asked her to take his bath water of the bathroom. She replied “no, I just learnt over the past five days that I have rights and I think you should take the water yourself.” Her assertion resulted in a physical altercating with her husband. The story was antidotal, but the participants agreed and recommended that they should: “rethink the gender strategy, bring more men on board and educate them on the concept of gender.” Sustainable progress towards gender equality cannot be achieved without the inclusion of men in the discussion who must understand its importance for all of society.
Cerue Konah Garlo is a Program Officer for the Civil Society and Media Leadership Project in Liberia (CSML). [11]