UN Coordinator wants more women in govt.

The National Coordinator of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 or UNSCR 1325 at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection Madam Vivian Neejay Innis has emphasized the need for more women to be in government to enable them contribute their quotas to the growth of Liberia’s economy.

She said 16 days of activism held recently by the ministry was necessary because it underscored some of the key issues that women and children had faced and continue to bear, including domestic violence, rape, early marriage and lack of protection of child’s right.

Speaking Wednesday, 24November in an interview with The NewDawn at the close of the 16 days of activism, Madam Innis urged her colleagues women that it’s about time to get off the fence and join the process of building Liberia, adding that nation building requires everyone.

She said Liberia will only have sustainable development depending on the involvement of its citizenry. “In nation building, it takes the involvement of everyone.” She also indicated that research has shown that when women are in government, they help to prioritize different developmental initiatives, including issues that are for public consumption such as safe drinking water, the right of a girl child, while men will only want to focus on the oil bill, concessions bill, among others.

“There should be a space for everyone in the government,” the UN Coordinator said. She said anyone who does not promote the struggle of women in politics should not be voted into public positions, especially men, arguing “Women have their space and understand how to relate to developmental issues.”

By Zee Roberts-Editing by Jonathan Browne