Gender and Poverty in Liberia

A Rapid Qualitative Assessment to inform the Liberian Poverty Assessment

and World Development Reportand World Development Report

16 March 2011

Key questions

• What factors influence the decisions that people make when it comes to pursuing education and livelihood strategies?

• What are the barriers that Liberians face in access to education and work?to education and work?

• Are these barriers gender-specific?

• How do experiences differ between rural and urban environments?

• How do experiences differ between ethnic groups?

• How have gender norms changed in the last decade?

Methodology• June – July 2010

• Local field team of 5

• 10 communities (9 for

data collection; 1 pilot)

• Community

questionnaire with 1-3 key

informants

• Four separate focus

group discussions (3-4 hours

each; 8-12 participants

each) with young males and

females (age 18-30) and

adult males and females

(age 31-70)

• Mini case-study on 1-3

topics

"contextual factors are often more

important in determining women’s

empowerment and its outcomes than

individual-level factors." (Malhotra,

Schuler, and Boender, 2002: 18)

Communities

Key community features

Community name (order in

which fieldwork conducted)Urban Accessible

Hetero-

geneous

Presence

of

large

corps.

Access to

all

social

services

Cell

phone

reception

Near a

border

MATADI (1)

(Montserrado)

BUCHANAN (3)

(Buchanan)

HARBEL (5) HARBEL (5)

(Margibi)

BO (2)

(Grand Cape Mount)

JACKSONVILLE (8)

(Maryland)

FARMERSVILLE (6)

(Sinoe)

RAYMOND’S TOWN (4)

(Bong)

WOIMAH (7)

(Lofa)

BARGBLOR TOWN (9)

(Grand Gedeh)

Relative happiness

•Young females > Young males

> Adult females > Adult males

Gender-specific responses

•Males concerned with jobs

and development

1. Overall HappinessGenerally speaking, how happy are you? Why?

and development

•Females concerned with the

well-being of their families

Geography-specific responses

•Least-developed communities

most happy

•Most developed communities

least happy

2. Employment•Everybody has a job, formal or informal.

•Stability is key – a job with consistent pay and work is the ‘best’,

even if the job is very hard work and/or long hours.

•People prefer to be their own boss•People prefer to be their own boss

•All communities report business-making (including selling on the

market) as a most desirable job

•All communities report illicit activities (prostitution, stealing) as a

least desirable job

•Men and women perceive women to actually have equal

representation in many of the best jobs. Some are gender specific.

2. Employment

• Most desirable jobs geography-specific

• In less developed areas, farming is always named; in more developed areas, farming is almost never named

• Those with skills and education tend to leave less-developed communities in search of better jobs.

• Most desirable jobs gender-specific and generation-specific

• Men and youth name more highly skilled jobs; women and adults name more semi-skilled jobs

• Employment that also benefits the community is more desirable than employment outside of the community, even if latter employment pays more.

3. Household finances• Women are considered by men and women to be better at

managing money ; all believe men should be better

• Women typically have less control over family finances are used,

despite their ideas about what would be the best use for the

money

• ‘The wife is the neck that supports the head’.

• Women can• Women can

have control

over their own

money, but

typically do not.

• Some

women use

trickery to keep

money

4. Social mobility• In more developed

communities, a person’s relative social status depends mainly on his or her wealth

• In less developed communities, social status depends strongly on social depends strongly on social relationships

• It is possible, though difficult to rise/fall in social status

• Moving up in power involves saving money, expanding business and higher education

• Growing middle class over the last ten years; liaisons

• Problem with accumulation

4. Social mobility

Options for savings and loans

• Cash in house (mattress, box, buried)

• Family and friends

• Daily/weekly/monthly Susu • Daily/weekly/monthly Susu

• Nigerian Susu

• Yearly club/ Savings club

• Fulah lenders

• Local banks

• International banks

• Men and women can and do use all forms; women tend to be involved in susu more often

5. Gender roles

Empowerment index

Male average: -0.28

•Over the last ten years, women see themselves as having

gained power and rights, while men see themselves as having

lost power and rights

Male average: -0.28

(less empowered)

Female average: +0.05

(more empowered)

“The women are

taking over” – Men

in every

community

5. Gender roles

• Indications that men feel threatened by female

empowerment

• Women now engage in business

• New legislation to give women more rights, many of which

identify men as perpetrators

• Women have increased education, more skills for

employment

• Women hold more leadership positions

6. Traditions

• Traditional marriages practiced in all communities; exclusively in rural communities; polygamy common there

• Recent legislation surrounding women’s and children’s rights is known but not necessarily followed and understoodunderstood

• Perceived encroachment of ‘human rights people’

‘The [rape] laws are an

embarrassment to our practices’.

-Adult male, Bargblor Town

• Practice of female

genital cutting

(FGC) practiced in

rural areas

7. Ethnicity and economic life

• Perceived and actual differences between certain ethnicities’ domestic affairs and types of business they engage in (Fulah, Mandingo)

• No indications that economic decisions are based on ethnicity aloneethnicity alone

• In no ethnic group are women particularly more economically disadvantaged than in another

• Frequent business interactions between persons of different ethnicities who have a history of enmity

8. Youth’s hopes for the future

• Youth see education as the most important factor in their

future

• Males and females have similar views on the importance of

educationeducation

• Urban youth have realistic expectations of what education can

do for them

• Youth becoming disenchanted with education as a result of

lack of jobs upon finishing: ‘It is who you know that matters’.

Recommendations

• The concept of women’s ‘empowerment’ needs to be expanded to include both the public and domestic spheres

• Initiatives that promote gender equality should give more attention to the needs of men, too

• Everybody works, but often they do odd-jobs that are unreliable and do not contribute to the local economy in the long-term. Assisting in the start-up of cooperatives can benefit entire communities

• Community-based projects are more likely to be embraced, carried out and sustained by local populations than out-of-community or migrant/wage labour

Recommendations

• Everywhere, people think that improved roads are a critical first step in improving the livelihoods of those living in rural areas. They would farm more if there were roads to get their goods out more quickly (before it spoils)

• Access to education is important, but without jobs to • Access to education is important, but without jobs to absorb graduates, young people are increasingly discouraged and disappointed. Job creation must be addressed at the local-level to see what types of industries would actually work given the different features of each community

• Opportunities for skilled and semi-skilled workers should be created in their communities to prevent migration of all skilled workers to the cities

Recommendations

• Lending programs that require people to save their money in bank accounts for specific purposes (ie a fund for their child’s college), immediate re-investment into business) will enable entrepreneurs to accumulate money/assets without having the pressure of sharing it with others. This is especially relevant for women, who are under pressure to give money to their husbandsespecially relevant for women, who are under pressure to give money to their husbands

• Legislation and law enforcement can induce people into acting in a certain way, but more needs to be done to help them understand why such legislation is important. Human rights interventions, especially regarding women’s rights, FGM and child-rights, must endeavor to be culturally sensitive and locally-run.