By Aminata Sameena Sesay
The United Nations gender agency UN Women has acknowledged its support for the successful enactment of the 2022 Gender Bill.
At a press conference held at Radisson Blu in Freetown, the group commended President Julius Maada Bio and the Minister of Gender and Children’s Affairs Manty Tarawally for the achievement.
The Manager of the UN Women in Sierra Leone, Setcheme Jeronime M. Mongol emphasized that support for the gender law shows the fruitful and close cooperation between male and female Parliamentarians of the country.
She said the notion that women don’t support women has been overshadowed as women are now joining forces to ensure growth, inclusion and development at all levels.
She reiterated that the Act shows collaboration, understanding, unity beyond differences, and the unshakable commitment to increase the country’s capacity by increasing women’s participation and leadership at every level that will enable the transformation of the Act into actual changes everyone wants to see. She added that, gender inequality is a global concern and Sierra Leone is not an exception.
She further stated that the transformation of the Act into reality is important owing to the fact that 87 percent of women in the country are more active in the workforce compared to the 75 percent men. She quoted the world economic forum global gender gap which stated that, men earn between 16 percent - 30 percent globally, than women.
According to Mongol, 67 percent of women between the ages of 25 -29 have experienced physical violence since the age of 15 and Divorced and Widowed women experienced more violence. She highlighted the present 13 percent of women in parliament and cabinet and 19 percent in local government position as manifestation of low representation of women that impede development.
She spoke of no private sector in Sierra Leone having signed on women empowerment principles, and of low female representation in listed companies’ broad leadership.
Mongol pleaded with every stakeholder to own the Act and more data must be produced to inform on policies, programmes and results. She said gender responsive plans and budget planning will be achieved through the ongoing work between UNICEF, UNFPA, UNAIDS UN Women, IMF, Ministry of Finance, among others.
She recalled how the enactment of the gender laws was recommended by the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report following the end of the civil conflict.
She urged everyone to work together to achieve the goals of the Act, noting that, they are looking forward to supporting the national efforts.
She noted that their organization is the world champion for gender equality and the empowerment of women, that seeks to uphold women’s rights and ensure that every woman and girl live up to achieve their full potentials. She said they joined Sierra Leoneans to celebrate the enactment of the Act which is aimed at developing more rights for both women and men.
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