MONROVIA, LIBERIA-The Legislative Monitoring Coalition of Liberia (LEMCOL) has disclosed high-level gender disparities in legislative participation and initiative during its monitoring and evaluation at the National Legislature.

Reading the group’s statement on Monday, December 15, 2025, Joseph Cheayan stressed that though women were present in plenary sessions, their active participation in discussions was limited at both the Liberian Senate and the House of Representatives.

Cheayan said,” There were nine sessions conducted during the Second Quarter, with women contributing to three out of the nine sessions, and five sessions recording zero female participation”.

The findings from LEMCOL’s evaluation revealed both strengths and weaknesses in legislative performance, indicating that the National Legislature consistently maintained respect for democratic procedural sessions.

LEMCOL is a coalition of sixteen CSOs and media institutions working around three thematic issues of legislative transparency, participation, and inclusion at the National Legislature.

Meanwhile, LEMCOL has made several recommendations to the National Legislature to help improve legislative oversight, lawmaking, and accountability to the Liberian people.

The recommendations include commissioning the General Auditing Commission (GAC) to conduct a system audit of the National Legislature to increase transparency and accountability in the financial management of public funds, ensuring that CSOs and the media are allowed to observe committee meetings or hearings.

Other recommendations include ensuring that the National Legislature improves its oversight function by demanding that the Executive submit budget performance reports before the submission of the National Budget, among others.

LEMCOL said monitoring women in legislative deliberations is essential to enable regular participation and inclusion of minority issues in the legislative agenda.