By Omonu Nelson, Monrovia, Liberia
The Community parliament of the ECOWAS region has been challenged to create the needed enabling environment for women participation and occupy strategic positions like their male counterpart.
The Chairperson of the Female Legislature Caucus, Dr Rosanna Schaack gave this challenge in a goodwill message at the opening ceremony of the Delocalized Meeting of the Joint Committee on Social Affairs, Gender and Women Empowerment, Education, Science and Culture underway in Monrovia, the Liberian capital.
She said women must be empowered socially and economically to play active role in shaping modern political discourse.
In a speech, Liberia’s Minister for Gender, Children, and Social Affairs, Madam Williametta Saydee Tarr, explained that significant milestone has been achieved in support of gender equality and women’s empowerment within the context of the African Leaders adoption of the strategy for the African Women Decades covering the period, 2010 to 2020.
According to her, “As a responsible agency, significant progress has been made under the dynamic leadership of Dr George Manneh Weah, as he has continued to exhibit political-will and commitment, thus promoting gender equality, women’s empowerment and women’s rights as ensconced in government’s Pro-poor Agenda, Prosperity and Development (PAPD)
She said, “Our Government has continued to support civil society actor and development partners to capitalize and leveraging on commitment to promote economic and political empowerment of women to improve the status of women through legal and constitutional means, institutional gender mechanisms or creating conducive environment for women to realize their potential.
“We acknowedge the heightened cases of sexual violence. Our Government is partnering with local and international stakeholders to domesticated laws that will adequately punish offenders”
Madam Tarr agreed that a lot more still needs to be done as the female gender still continues to face challenges of harmful practices such as genital mutilation and others.
In a welcome address, the leader of Liberian delegation to ECOWAS Parliament, Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe Jr. said since George Weah’s era as the head of the country’s delegation to ECOParl, the parliament has continued to witness more Delocalized meetings. “Liberia as founding member of ECOWAS has continued to play pivotal role in sustaining the organization.
In a goodwill message, Liberian Foreign Affairs, Dee – Maxwell Saah Kemayah explained that in its nearly three decades of existence, ECOWAS Parliament has deliberated on key issues that have impacted positively on the region.
Source: parliamentnews360.com
