Liberia- 1st- Gender and women’s rights

By Daniel Morris | 31. October 2025

CHAPTER ONE: BACKGROUND
1.2. Objectives of the NAPBHR

The objectives of the NAPBHR are:

vi. To offer clear remedial pathways for business-related gender abuses.

CHAPTER TWO: SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS

2.1. Introduction

The various stakeholders’ consultations and research conducted between 2019 and 2023 revealed that various human rights violations and abuses occurred across the Liberian business sectors – including… gender discrimination…

2.3.2. Labor Rights

[…] There is labor discrimination concerning gender, disability, HIV-positive status, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Women experience economic discrimination based on cultural traditions discouraging their employment outside the home in rural areas. In most instances, men’s wages tend to exceed that of women. […]

2.3.6. Gender, People with Disabilities, and Other Vulnerable Groups.

To fully protect and guarantee adequate human rights for all persons, it is important to deal fairly and humanely with the cause of women and vulnerable groups within society. In other words, responding to gender issues is critical in the strive for human rights.

[…]

The government is strongly committed to gender equality as a means of maintaining peace, reducing poverty, enhancing justice, and promoting development. The government recognizes that to assure equal opportunities and participation in management and decision-making at all levels of society, women’s and men’s different experiences, needs, concerns, vulnerabilities, capacities, visions, and contributions must be systematically considered in the country’s ongoing reconstruction efforts. Among other things, the commitment to gender equality is reflected through the government’s ratification of several international and regional treaties, declarations, and agreements on gender equality and the empowerment of women.

At the national level, the government has enacted laws and adopted policies and programs towards enhancing the equality of men and women in Liberia. The laws include the Domestic Relations Law; the Inheritance Act of 1998, which specifies equal rights in marriage and inheritance under customary and statutory laws; the Rape Law of 2005, which outlaws gang rape and stipulates life-term sentence, particularly in aggressive forms of rape; and the antiHuman Trafficking Act of 2005. Moreover, the Liberia National Gender Policy prohibits trafficking in persons. Examples of the government’s gender-specific policies are the National Gender-Based Violence Plan of Action (2006), and the Policy on Girl Child Education (2006). In the education sphere, section 1.4 of the Education Law of Liberia provides that all Liberians including women have equal rights.

The primary goal of the National Gender Policy is to mainstream gender in the national development processes, enhance women’s and girls’ empowerment for sustainable and equitable development, and create and strengthen gender-responsive structures and mechanisms in which both women and men can participate and benefit from development programs on an equal basis.

Notwithstanding the efforts applied so far, the NAP consultations identified the following concerns:

  1. Women’s participation in leadership and decision-making remains low, with only 11 percent women representation in the legislature (at the time of this document’s crafting).
  2. Women continue to have limited access to education, health, and judicial services, which has severely curtailed their participation in the formal economy.
  3. Lack of qualified women is often cited as the main reason for the limited representation of women in various sectors, including the security sector.
  4. Women and girls continue to suffer sexual abuse and gender-based violence.
  5. Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) remains prevalent in the society.
  6. Unwanted pregnancies continue to be registered in many parts of the country, including in places where people converge to find work.
  7. Public infrastructures continue to be “unfriendly” to persons with mobility challenges.
  8. Lack of meaningful consultation with women about projects being carried out on their land, or the lack of a clear mechanism for participation in decisions about the development of their community.

CHAPTER THREE: POLICY ACTIONS

This chapter presents strategic policy actions that the Government of Liberia intends to undertake during the next five years. These have been clustered under the six thematic areas of focus for this plan and aligned to the three pillars of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

3.1. Land and Natural Resources

[…]

c) Access to Remedy for Land and Natural Resources-related human rights violations and abuses

Below are the policy actions on access to remedy for land and natural resources human rights abuses and violations:

i. The Liberia Land Authority (LLA) shall ensure that issues related to women’s property rights are part of the Land Commission’s efforts.

[…]

3.6. Gender, Persons with Disabilities and Other Vulnerable Groups

Policy actions on addressing gender and other related business and human rights concerns.

a) State Duty to Protect

i. The government shall take measures to mainstream gender considerations in business and human rights. In the awarding of scholarships or other benefits from business corporate social responsibility, including employment, contracts, and compensation, special consideration shall be taken to cater to the interests of women[.]

ii. In all business-related meetings, consultations, dialogues, or negotiations, the government shall adopt a policy that ensures women…are fully represented.

iii. Labor practices that are discriminatory to women…for employment, promotion, and incentives, will be addressed and eliminated.

iv. Given the vulnerability of women…the government shall take measures to mainstream Gender Considerations in Business and Human Rights.

v. Accordingly, in all meetings, consultations, dialogue, or negotiations, women…shall be fully represented.

b) Corporate Responsibility to Respect

i. Under Corporate Responsibility to respect gender concerns, the CRG shall provide for such things as employment, community development, contracts, scholarships,

ii. To ensure inclusiveness, gender consideration and broad representation of all interests shall be considered.

c) Access to remedy

i. Under Access to Remedy, girls’ education is being encouraged at all levels to resolve the issue of limited women’s participation in the formal economy.

ii. Also, the government has introduced affirmative action that assigns a 30 percent quota to women’s representation in the national legislature.

iii. In terms of the strive to end sexual offenses against women, Criminal Court E, a specialized court specifically dealing with sexual and gender-based offenses, has been established in Monrovia. (Altogether, three such courts have been established in Bong, Montserrado and Nimba Counties; and other circuit courts in the leeward counties also have jurisdiction to address SGBV cases.) Notwithstanding, there is an urgent need to establish similar specialized courts in the remaining 11 counties.