April 25, 2005 - (The Inquirer) Liberian Christian and Muslim women are calling for more women participation in the social, economic and political decision-making in the October elections. The Christian and Muslim women in their mission statement called for a corruption-free society, education and justice for both woman and man.

The women said, they are deeply concerned about the continued wave of discrimination and violence against women, mainly rape and the issue of sex for jobs. The women's vision and mission statement came at the end of the third phase of a four-month Gender Leadership in Gbarnga, Bong County.

The workshop was organized by Liberia Transitional Initiative (LTI) and the Development Education Network of Liberia (DEN-L), with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Gender Leadership workshop which was attended by the Women for Mass Action for Peace Network (WAPNET), rural women and the Island Clinic Concerned Community Union, was facilitated by Dorothy Tooman, Musu London and James Telewoyan.

The LTI, DEN-L and USAID organized Gender Leadership workshop was focused on strengthening the skills of women in leadership and on helping women identify strategies in meeting these strategic needs on how religion can be used to enhance gender equality. Topics discussed included Gender Mainstreaming; Sexual and Gender Based Violence, Forced Marriage, Female Genital Mutilation, Using Women as Slaves.

From: http://allafrica.com/stories/200504260162.html