World Bank provides over $44m to support Liberian women

The World Bank provided $44.6 million in financing to support women's and girls' empowerment in Liberia on Monday.

It is part of the financing agreement signed between the bank and government of Liberia.

The bank also provided additional financing to the country's COVID-19 emergency response project in the amount of $ 9million.

Khwima Nthara, the bank's country manager for Liberia, said at the signing: "Women have not shared equally in the dividends of peace, since the end of the civil conflict and a large number of women have been excluded from the country's economic development by persistently high gender disparities."

According to him, statistics from the 2019 gender inequality index of 156 countries show that women and girls in Liberia were at disadvantage in all areas of society.

He said that women have fewer, less stable and less attractive job opportunities compared to males. He blamed society norms for being a significant barrier to women's empowerment in the country.

"Studies have shown that nearly half of Liberian women have experienced physical, sexual or emotional violence from a husband or partner within the past 12 months. Furthermore, gender-based violence impacts women and girls across their entire life cycle", Nthara said.

Samuel D. Tweah, Liberia's finance and development planning minister, indicated that women empowerment sits at the middle of the country's economy.

Tweah termed the financing agreements as enhancing the government efforts to improve and support one of the "key priorities", in the country's Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development.

The funding, he added, will empower women and girls by comprehensively addressing various constraints and barriers they face in realizing their full potential.