{"id":34168,"date":"2023-04-03T16:20:19","date_gmt":"2023-04-03T16:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-weah-criticized-for-vetoing-30-gender-representation-bill"},"modified":"2023-04-03T16:40:42","modified_gmt":"2023-04-03T16:40:42","slug":"liberia-weah-criticized-for-vetoing-30-gender-representation-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-weah-criticized-for-vetoing-30-gender-representation-bill","title":{"rendered":"Liberia: Weah Criticized for Vetoing 30% Gender Representation Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. <\/strong><\/span>President George Weah has been heavily criticized by the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL) for vetoing a progressive amendment to the new election law.<\/p>\n

The amendments in question sought to make 30% of gender representation mandatory. It would have empowered the National Elections Commission (NEC) to fine or delist any political parties that failed to adhere to the gender quotas.<\/p>\n

Gender quotas are a type of \u201ctemporary special measure\u201d to accelerate women\u2019s substantive equality with men, and achieve the necessary structural, and socio-cultural changes to redress the historical marginalization of women from political life.<\/p>\n

According to AFELL president Atty. Philomena Williams, the President\u2019s reason for vetoing the bill is disappointing.<\/p>\n

Williams noted the action does not represent the President\u2019s self-proclaimed \u2018feminist-in-chief\u2019 nomenclature and past statements that he is committed to improving the rights of Liberian women.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe strongly believe that if President Weah had signed the 30% affirmative action for women representation, it clearly would not have delayed the election process as stated in his veto statement. The veto of the 30% women representation law does not reflect the terminology of Feminist in Chief,\u201d Williams said at the General Assembly of the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are set back and want you to rationalize the gigantic inequality gap of women in politics and leadership in Liberia and the need for complementary laws that mirror and are in consonance with the constitution,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

While <\/b>vetoing the amendment and several others made to the NEW Election Law, President Weah said that the <\/b>amendments were in conflict with already existing constitutional provisions, and other laws, saying he prefers the law staying the way it is.<\/p>\n

The President\u2019s action dashed the hopes of many women rights advocates, including AFELL, who had for years lobbied for the quota.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe country is just seven months away from the 2023 general and presidential elections. As such, certain changes in the elections law at a time so close would tend to send mixed signals to the electorates and present the potential to cause delays in elections processes,\u201d Weah said.<\/p>\n

The President\u2019s veto of the bill, which comes more than five months after the bill\u2019s passage by the Legislature, can be overridden by members of the legislature, depending on how many lawmakers maintained their previous support for the bill.<\/p>\n

But this would not be the case, as the 54th legislature is on break and it remains unclear whether, upon their return, they would attempt to override the veto.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the AFELL president has reminded Weah that similar law was passed in Sierra Leone, which is also going to elections this year.<\/p>\n

Gender quotas are widely seen as a way to fast track equal representation in politics and have been a key mechanism for promoting democratization in the world since the 1990s. 137 countries have adopted constitutional, electoral, or political party quotas to address gender gaps in national decision-making.<\/p>\n

Of these, 76 have adopted legislated electoral quotas at the national or sub-national level of the 54 countries in Africa, 46 have adopted some form of legislated quotas and 37 of these have adopted quotas in either the single\/lower house and\/or the upper house of the national parliament. Constitutional and legislated quotas are more effective at increasing women\u2019s representation than voluntary party quotas because all parties are required to comply.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Liberia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. President George Weah has been heavily criticized by the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL) for vetoing a progressive amendment to the new election law. The amendments in question sought to make 30% of gender representation mandatory. It would have empowered the National Elections Commission (NEC) to fine or delist any […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":34166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-34168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-liberia","tag-liberia"],"yoast_head":"\nLiberia: Weah Criticized for Vetoing 30% Gender Representation Bill - Liberia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President George Weah has been heavily criticized by the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL) for vetoing a ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-weah-criticized-for-vetoing-30-gender-representation-bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Liberia: Weah Criticized for Vetoing 30% Gender Representation Bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President George Weah has been heavily criticized by the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL) for vetoing a ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-weah-criticized-for-vetoing-30-gender-representation-bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Liberia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-03T16:20:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-03T16:40:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1680522625.34.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-weah-criticized-for-vetoing-30-gender-representation-bill#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-weah-criticized-for-vetoing-30-gender-representation-bill\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Liberia: Weah Criticized for Vetoing 30% Gender Representation Bill\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-03T16:20:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-03T16:40:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-weah-criticized-for-vetoing-30-gender-representation-bill\"},\"wordCount\":574,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-weah-criticized-for-vetoing-30-gender-representation-bill#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1680522625.34.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Liberia\",\"Liberia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-weah-criticized-for-vetoing-30-gender-representation-bill#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-weah-criticized-for-vetoing-30-gender-representation-bill\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-weah-criticized-for-vetoing-30-gender-representation-bill\",\"name\":\"Liberia: Weah Criticized for Vetoing 30% Gender Representation Bill - 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