Women in Retrospect: 2012

Giving her family a fighting chance beyond mere survival is what motivates the ordinary Liberian woman

 Before we finally close the chapter on 2012, flipping a fresh page for a new beginning in 2013, let's not forget that the unresolved issues of 2012 and other past years are still in need of solutions. In this final week of 2012, we want to highlight that the socio-political and economic advancement of Liberian women remains an ongoing struggle, claiming the attention of advocates on a daily basis. However, here's a look back at a breathless twelve months (2012) that saw ordinary women doing extraordinary things to improve their lives; the women’s world pushing for gender democracy at all levels. Let’s take a reflective look at an eventful year in news:

Economic:

From January through March, 2012, my focus was glued to the economic life of Liberian women – analyzing critical barriers to women’s economic progress. As we only too well know, Liberian women play an indispensable role in their economy. They work in what could be considered just above the lowest rank of the economy, vending wares that are the dietary staples and other necessities of our society. 

Yet, the prospects of profitability and growth of these gallant economic foot-soldiers remain dim.  Living “from hand to mouth” with many unemployed husbands, children and other dependents, the reality of their dual roles as street vendors and as a critical component of the livelihoods of both poor urban and rural households – this reality – bears countless stories yet untold, of women trying to beat the odds, challenge the status quo, and simply make a living.  Essentially, this was a story of ordinary women doing extraordinary things out of the sheer necessity of providing for themselves and their families.

At the same time, we underscored the entrepreneurial energies of Liberian women, especially single moms, who dare to establish and operate full-time a home-based enterprise. My analysis of this matter revealed that a majority of these moms soon find themselves unconsciously allotting more time and even affection to their business than to their families. Balancing work and life thus becomes a real sticky issue. I call them ‘mumpreneurs’---(a conjunction for moms and entrepreneurs) women who are organized, enterprising, in charge, determined to succeed, full of faith, often scarred and overworked. Their sole motivation is to give their families a fighting chance beyond mere survival.

Liberian women are perceived to be the engine of the country's war-ravaged economy

Family:

February 2012 dawned a day for the Liberian child. It marked the historic launch of the 2011 Children’s Law of Liberia by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. This development followed more than two years of relentless advocacies by state and non-state actors from all walks of the Liberian society, including the Liberia Children’s Parliament and UNICEF, among many others.  The law was finally passed on 15 September 2011 by the 52nd Legislature. 

The Children’s Law of Liberia aims to protect children and their right to participate meaningfully in their development. According to UNICEF, the Children’s Law is largely based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, ratified by Liberia in 1993 and 1992 respectively. Liberia is one of the first countries to adopt comprehensive legislation for children that incorporate the UNCRC and the African Charter, making it one of the most comprehensive pieces of children’s rights legislation on the continent. It ensures the government’s commitment to support the progressive realization of all rights for all children, including their right to health, education, freedom from violence, abuse, and exploitation, and their right to participate meaningfully in their own development.

Politics:

The year 2012 saw so many interesting events unfolding in the women’s world of politics. In April, leaders of three of Liberia’s foremost women’s peace advocacy groups – the Liberia Women’s Initiative (LWI), the Mano River Women Peace Network (MARWOPNET) and the Women In Peace-building Network (WIPNET) – clashed over who might have been more deserving of the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize, won in part by two daughters of Liberia.  The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, according to the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Thorbjørn Jagland, was awarded to two Liberian women, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee, and a Yemeni co-winner, for “their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.”

But eminent personalities of the women’s movement in Liberia, including Mother Mary Brownell and Madam Theresa Leigh-Sherman, described the awarding of the Prize to Leymah Gbowee as a misplaced decision by the Nobel Committee because, according to them, Gbowee “should have been there when the bullets were flying.” Don’t forget, Brownell and Leigh-Sherman are founders and leaders of women’s “pressure groups” established during the heat of Liberia’s 14-year civil war. Their movements used non-violent actions on various fronts in the search for an end to the conflict.

President Johnson Sirleaf has since thanked Leymah for her contribution to restoring peace to the country

In a related development, in October, Liberian women fiercely ridiculed Leymah Gbowee for publicly speaking out against President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.  They called it an expression of women’s solidarity since Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee had publicly denounced the Sirleaf Administration for “failing to fight graft and nepotism.” The women claimed Leymah assertions were a “disgrace to womanhood”.

In my analysis of this issue, we first frowned at Ms. Gbowee for choosing an international platform to let her voice be heard when she could have simply expressed her sentiments right here at home. We swiftly added, however, that what supersedes it all is one’s right to freely speak one’s mind. What does freedom of speech have to do with “womanhood”?  We wondered.  Another issue raised in that article was whether Liberia women now are insinuating that a woman should never dare to dare. Or whether no woman should dare to differ with the President, herself a woman?

Women's Health:
 

A key topic discussed under this theme was an analysis of the burden of care on an HIV+ mother. In February, scores of HIV+ women who were under care at various health facilities across the country called for the need to create an avenue for them to be self-employed. 

These women – predominantly single moms –blamed stigma and discrimination for their limited or lack of access to livelihoods. “In the end, we turned into beggars because of our status,” they told a high level delegation from UNITAID, an international drug purchasing facility hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland.  Dr. Philippe Douste-Blazy, who also serves as United Nations Under -Secretary General for innovative financing, chairs it.  

A 25-year-old HIV+ mother in care at a health facility in Monrovia told her story in these words:  “Some of my friends who have HIV are feeling ashamed to come to the hospital for medicines. For me, I make it a duty to come here every day to get my medicines, rice, beans, fish, oil, cubes.  But that is not enough. My husband and I separated some years ago. He, too, is positive but our four children are negative. So, this left me with the burden to take care of the children on my own. The children need clothes, medicines and need to go to school. This hospital is not providing all of that for me. I only get food and my own medicines from here.”

As a result, Helena resorted to doing laundry for various households in her neighborhood, in order to make the extra cash to meet other needs. But the stress in this activity is what is physically, psychologically and emotionally draining for this young woman. The above quote only reemphasizes the fact that the physical and psychological burden of HIV/AIDS weighs heavily on women. This also has the propensity to persistently undermine the resilience of these positive women to the consequences of HIV/AIDS, and make adherence to treatment especially difficult.