Liberia, April 2 -- In a political system where women occupy less than 11 percent of seats in the country's Legislature - one of the lowest rates in the world - women from Liberia's major political parties gathered Tuesday in an effort to overcome differences and work together to achieve better representation for the country's women.

Their union represented a recognition, they said, that working in siloes inside the political parties was not working. Men inside the major political parties still refuse to make room for women as candidates for winnable seats.

"The men will not do this," said Amelia Siah Siaffa, acting executive director and program director of Sister Aid Liberia. "Women have to demand the space."

The meeting brought tog...