The Women's Colloquium in Liberia: Gender Equality in Africa

Hundreds of African women and international delegates joined Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to strategize about how women leaders can help bring a lasting peace.

In March 2009, women leaders from around the world met in Monrovia, Liberia for the International Colloquium for Women’s Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace and Security. The conference had first been proposed at the inauguration of Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the only female head of state in Africa. Hundreds of women ultimately used the event as an opportunity to strategize on how to increase women’s presence in government. It was a particularly powerful experience for women in Liberia. After a decade and a half of violent conflict, which deeply scarred the country’s population and infrastructure, Liberian women are taking an active role in postwar reconstruction and insisting that they should have a say in shaping their country’s future. This short film captures the energy of the event, where 800 female participants gathered to envision a new era of peace and gender equality in Africa and beyond.