UN Women launches Heforshe Campaign

The United Nations Women Thursday, 20 August launched the “Heforshe” campaign at the Liberian Legislature on Capitol Hill. The campaign is to change discriminatory behaviors, through building awareness on the importance of Gender equality and women’s empowerment, as well as the crucial role men play in women’s lives.

Speaking at the launch yesterday, the UN Women Representative in Liberia, Awa Ndiaye Seck, said, women have suffered a lot due to lack of education, lack of access to justice and lack of economic empowerment. Moreover for Liberia, the vulnerability got worse by the civil war and the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus. 

She noted that worldwide, almost one-third of all women, who have been in a relationship, experienced some form of violence from their intimate partners, while girls and women represent two-thirds of the world’s illiterate population.

She added that at a global level, women devote one to three more hours a day to housework than men and dedicate two to 10 times the amount of time a day to care and work, nurturing children, elderly and the sick.

Madam Seck said throughout the world, women are less likely to hold leadership positions in companies and women comprise only 21.8% of national parliamentarians around the globe, despite there being virtually no legal restrictions on women running for public office.

She said Liberia now has the second highest number of men, who have signed up for the Heforshe campaign in Africa with 2,275 as of August 19, 2015. Heforshe is a global effort to engage men and boys in removing social and cultural barriers that prevent women and girls from achieving their potential. By Ethel A. Tweh