Liberia

A woman in Liberia speaks out, after years of women's voices being silent, about a local resolution to end Liberian discrimination against women. The men behind her are seen laughing and covering their faces in amusement.

The Republic of Liberia is marked by a high population growth rate and low life expectancy. There are a variety of ethnic groups and religions, including a small percentage of Liberico Americans (Amerafricans) descended from freed slaves from the United States repatriated to Africa. Rural women largely remain in traditional subservient gender roles and exercise more limited rights than their urban counterparts. Women are affected by high domestic violence, fertility, and poverty rates, female genital mutilation, political instability, and a continuing human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) epidemic. Women played a key role in the peace movement that ended the [Page 856]repressive presidency of Charles Taylor and helped elect Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2005.

Among Liberia's indigenous ethnic groups, women are valued for their agricultural labor and childbearing and polygyny is considered the ideal state, although most males do not have multiple wives. Bride wealth payments are still common. Among Liberico Americans and Christianized indigenous groups, there is a religious emphasis on monogamy. A few men maintain what are termed “country wives” in addition to a religiously sanctioned “ring wife.” In some areas, intermarriage is eroding tribal distinctions.

The fertility rate of 5.79 births per woman and the infant mortality rate of 138.24 per 1,000 live births are both high. Indigenous groups are patrilineal and male dominant, and consider wives as property. Husbands have legal claim to their wives’ children whether or not they are the biological fathers. Women handle domestic and childcare responsibilities. Domestic violence and female genital mutilation are common; the victims have little recourse.

Women receive less education than men, generally receiving eight years as opposed to 11, and few receive higher education. There is a large gap in literacy rates at 73 percent for men but only 42 percent for women in 2003. Most rural residents have no access to Western style healthcare and rely on traditional medicine. Serious disease threats include malaria, tuberculosis, and cholera. The continuing HIV/AIDS epidemic has left behind many orphans. Life expectancy is very low, at 40.71 for men and 43 for women.

Most rural agriculture is subsistence based, with tasks segregated by gender. Men clear the land while women and children plant, weed, and harvest the crops. Educated women often work outside the home, mainly in white-collar jobs. These women lose some of the social status gained through their education and employment if they must also perform traditional female activities such as farming or hauling water. Many indigenous societies have separate political systems run by each gender.