ActionAid Liberia Joins Global Partners to Demand Tax Justice for Women’s Rights at IW2026 Launch
Warn that Taxes should work for Liberian Women
ActionAid Liberia has this week joined its global federation and civil society partners worldwide in commemorating the 10th Edition of the Global Days of Action (GDOA) on Tax Justice for Women’s Rights, which kicked off on March 2 throughout March 8, 2026, under the theme “Tax Justice for the Human Right to Care.”
The Global Days of Action is an initiative of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ) and its regional networks, led by the Tax and Gender Working Group. Since 2017, the campaign has mobilized activists across continents to demand fair and gender-responsive tax systems under the call to #MakeTaxesWorkForWomen.
This year’s observance is particularly significant as it coincides with negotiations toward a United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (UN Tax Convention). For countries like Liberia, these negotiations represent a critical opportunity to address historical global tax inequalities that deprive developing countries of much-needed public revenue.
The Care Crisis and Liberia’s Reality
Although there is no clear data to point to Liberia’s care crisis, but globally it is proven that women and girls carry the heaviest burden of unpaid and underpaid care work, filling the gaps created by underfunded health, education, and social protection systems. In Liberia, this reality is stark. Women dominate informal trade, subsistence farming, caregiving, and petty businesses, yet continue to face limited access to credit, land ownership, and social services.
Liberia’s tax system relies heavily on consumption taxes and imports duties, which often place a disproportionate burden on low-income households. When public revenues fall short due to tax incentives, weak enforcement, illicit financial flows, and corporate profit shifting the government frequently turns to regressive taxation or spending cuts. These measures disproportionately affect women, who already shoulder the majority of unpaid care responsibilities.
In rural Liberia, women make up approximately 80 percent of the agricultural labor force—meaning four out of every five agricultural workers are women. Yet women farmers continue to struggle with high costs of farming inputs, limited extension services, and inadequate market access.
Executive Order #139: A Step Forward, But More Action Needed
In 2024, President Joseph Boakai took a commendable step by issuing Executive Order #139, suspending import tariffs on key agricultural inputs, including seeds, agro and organic fertilizers, farming tools, and equipment. The policy was intended to make farming more affordable, especially for smallholder women farmers with limited capital.
ActionAid Liberia acknowledges that removing tariffs on these essential inputs has the potential to reduce production costs, increase crop yields, improve food security, and reduce post-harvest losses. However, women farmers across towns and villages report that they are yet to feel the full impact of this Executive Order. Agricultural inputs and support services remain expensive in local markets, limiting the intended benefits of the policy.
As Liberia observes the Global Days of Action on Tax Justice for Women’s Rights, ActionAid Liberia calls on the Government of Liberia to effectively implement and monitor Executive Order #139, ensuring that tariff reductions translate into real price reductions for women farmers nationwide.
As ActionAid Liberia therefore calls for Gender-Responsive Tax Reform and further calls on the Liberian government to:
Strengthen progressive taxation to ensure the wealthy and multinational corporations pay their fair share.
Reduce reliance on regressive consumption taxes that disproportionately affect women and low-income families.
Invest increased public revenues into healthcare, childcare, education, climate resilience, and social protection systems. Support a fair and inclusive UN Tax Convention that expands taxing rights for Global South countries like Liberia.
Tax systems are not gender-neutral. When revenues are lost through unfair global tax rules or weak domestic enforcement, women pay the price through unpaid care work, reduced services, and deepened poverty.
ActionAid Liberia also takes this moment to remind the government of our 2025 call made during the World Menstrual Hygiene Day Celebration, I which AAL called on the government to remove import taxes on Menstrual products in order to make it easily accessible and affordable for Liberian girls and women.
ActionAid Liberia is calling for the removal or significant reduction of tariffs on menstrual hygiene products, describing the issue as one of gender justice, education, and economic development.
At the celebration AAL’s Business Development Manager, Madam Victoria Torlo Koiquah, sent out passionate plead for which AAL reminds the GOL about. “Today, we gather not just to celebrate progress, but to amplify the voices of girls and women who are too often silenced by stigma, poverty, and systemic neglect, particularly when it comes to menstrual health and hygiene,”
It is no secret, but a grim reality of how many Liberian girls face, especially in rural and semi-urban areas, where over 60% do not have access to basic menstrual hygiene materials, the lack of safe and clean water in school to care for themselves during their period often lead to monthly school absenteeism.
This week, as Liberia joins the global movement for tax justice, ActionAid Liberia reaffirms its commitment to advancing women’s rights and ensuring that tax policies work for people not p