Bong County Representative Miama Briggs Mensah has assured the women and the public in general that a bill to abolish the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) would be passed.
Addressing women at the just-ended Women Consultative Conference in Ganta recently, she said the FGM bill will be passed in a modified way, where the bad parts will be removed.
“The FGM Bill be modified where the good ones will be practiced, instead of the bad ones,” she said.
She explained other good practices within the Sande Society can be practiced by women (but didn’t give any details) this is why a women's center was built in Nimba to practice the good parts.
Last year, the traditional zoes, mainly women, displaced all their traditional tools used in the practice of FGM during the inauguration of the Women’s Center in Gbanquoi, Nimba County as the symbol of abolishing the harmful part of FGM.
Rep. Briggs Mensah also told the women that the law establishing the ‘Traditional Sustainable Bill’ is being worked out and they are pushing for it to be passed.
She said the traditional sustainable bill will give the Traditional Birth Attendance greater rights for practice more freely and also allow other traditional practices that are good for the society to be practiced.
In a very strong remark, she also talked about working on another bill for the establishment of a “Domestic Violent Court” in the country.
Noting that on many occasions women are not given fair trials or judgment when they are abused by their male counterparts, so if the court is established it will only be charged to adjudicate domestic violence cases, despite the presence of Criminal Court ‘E’, which is also charged with the same responsibility.
She also urged the women to fight for 40% of every leadership position, instead of just concentrating on political positions.
“Let’s identify our interests by identifying the strategy men can use to dominate women in getting positions in the time of politics,” she admonished the women.
“We need to know what strategy they can use to dominate women; men can bargain or negotiate, let's start negotiating or bargaining for positions too,” she challenged the women.
Recently, more than 130 women from across Liberia convened in Ganta, brainstorming on their rights or plights affecting women in Liberia.
The Consultative conference held under the sponsorship of KVINNA till KIVINNA, in collaboration with UN Women and other partners, was held under the theme “bridging the gaps, fostering women’s solidarity — building and inclusion”.