“More Males Show Up Than Females” | Security

A team from the Ministry of National Defense (MOD) and the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) has begun a countywide awareness campaign focused on women’s inclusion in the AFL.

The exercise is aimed at encouraging females across Grand Bassa County to take advantage of the AFL’s ongoing nationwide recruitment process.

As part of the campaign, the team held a day-long awareness event on Wednesday, beginning with a live appearance on Radio Gbehzohn, followed by a citizen engagement at the County Administrative Building in Buchanan that brought together residents and young people.

The Team Lead and Senior Analyst at the Gender Department of the Ministry of National Defense, Zolina Teewleh, underscored the importance of women’s inclusion in the AFL.

“Our mission here is to encourage females to partner with UN Women and another group called ELSE, which works with UN Women to support government and security institutions in training women and building their career paths in security,” Teewleh said.

“This initiative is supported by the UN Women and UNESCO initiative fund, and we came to encourage our females, especially the younger ones, to join the military. All over the world, every military is expected to have women in its ranks, and we need at least 30 percent women in ours. So UN Women, along with the ELSE initiative fund, decided to support us as a security sector as the military of the nation to come and talk to our women,” she said.

She said the partner organizations will also help support and train women once they enter the army, through the ELSE initiative and UN Women.

“We’re targeting females because most of the time, during recruitment, more males show up than females. Every army has agreed that it should have at least 30 percent women in its ranks. But we’re seeing that our women are not coming forward, some are afraid, some aren’t sure what they’ll get out of it, or how they’ll be treated,” Teewleh said.

“It’s based on those perceptions that we’ve come to encourage them, and to erase the wrong idea that only men can be in the military. I always tell people that I am proof that women can be in the military and excel. This is just to encourage them there’s nothing that should be a barrier. If other women can do it, they can too,” she said.

Teewleh encouraged women to take advantage of the AFL’s recruitment exercise to join the army and serve the country.

Meanwhile, Inspector General of the Armed Forces of Liberia, Col. Esther Koon, also encouraged women across the country to take advantage of the ongoing AFL recruitment exercise and consider joining the military to contribute to national service.

The awareness campaign is part of broader efforts by the Ministry of National Defense and the AFL to promote women’s inclusion and participation in Liberia’s security sector.