By Isata Sowa and Ibrahim Tommy
On March 8 each year, governments and peoples all over the world get together to celebrate International Women’s Day. The day is set aside every year to reflect on the progress the world has made in terms of addressing the perennial challenges women face on a daily basis. It should also provide an opportunity for state and non-state actors to review the agenda, reshape the strategies and come up with more practical ways of addressing impediments to addressing gender imbalances that exist, as well as the serious violations that women suffer.
Sierra Leone is among the countries that have declared March 8 a public holiday, clearly recognising the need to fully reflect on the strategies that have been adopted to champion the cause of women. Sierra Leone’s theme for the 2014 celebration is "Inspiring Change for Women and Girls' Participation, Advancement and Prosperity".
On behalf of the Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law-Sierra Leone (CARL-SL), let us congratulate our female compatriots and women all over the world for being able to participate in this year’s celebrations. Happy International Women’s Day!!
Even as we celebrate, it is important to continue to have serious reflections on how far we have come and how much more needs to be done going forward. Sierra Leonean women have a long history of deprivation, marginalisation, and being on the wrong end of abuses and violations that generally go unpunished.
Prior to the 11 years civil conflict that ended in 2002, Sierra Leonean women suffered an indescribable depth of marginalisation; they were largely excluded from decision-making processes which accounted and still accounts for the huge income inequality that exists between women and men. This has invariably created serious imbalances in the relationship between men and women, with the latter generally relying on the former for sustenance. This, in some ways, makes it harder for women to break the cycle of violence they live in. This undermines their ability to assert their reproductive and sexual rights and challenge gender inequality. Girls continue to suffer harmful traditional practices.
During the civil war, women primarily bore the brunt of the conflict as they were used as sex slaves, cooks and combatants. They were repeatedly and brutally raped, forced to fight, and in some cases, forced to take the lives of their own children and relatives.
At the end of the conflict, and in light of the tragic experiences of women, efforts have been made by the Sierra Leone Government to address the perennial and emerging challenges facing women. It was part of this effort that a number of laws known as the Gender Justice Laws were passed between 2007 and 2012. These include, the Domestic Violence Act 2007, which seeks to protect the lives of women against all forms of violence; the Sexual Offences Act 2012, being an act to protect women and girls from any form of sexual abuse which includes rape, sexual penetration, and harassment; the Devolution of Estates Act 2007, and the Registration of Customary Marriage and Divorce Act 2007.
Collectively, these laws partially demonstrate the government’s commitment to protect the rights of women, address the gender imbalances that afflicted the country before, during and even after the war. It is also worth recognising the fact that there has been some progress in terms of female representation in appointive positions, as women hold key positions in government. There has also been significant public goodwill to help address these challenges. There is an appreciable increase in the number of men who are now willing to help protect the rights of women. In the Bombali and Kambia Districts, for example, CARL is working with a network of community-based monitors – both men and women – who have devoted their time and resources to enhancing justice for victims of sexual and gender-based violence by supporting personnel of the Sierra Leone Police’s Family Support Unit to bring perpetrators to justice.
While these reforms and initiatives are commendable, they do not go far enough to address the underlying causes of the enormous challenges that women face. For instance, women are still grossly under-represented in governance and other decision-making processes. Of the 112 Parliamentarians, for instance, there are not more than 15 female members. In terms of cabinet positions, there are only two female cabinet ministers in the current administration. Generally, there is a disproportionate representation of women in all spheres of governance. Sierra Leone faces high poverty and illiteracy levels, and women are the worst affected in all senses. Sierra Leonean women are still way poorer than their male compatriots in part because they have been traditionally denied access to social and economic opportunities. The fact that, until recently, a significant majority of families in the provinces had to make a choice between sending girls or boys to schools - with girls mostly being on the wrong end of the decisions - should help explain why addressing the inequality gap would require a bold affirmative action. To make a bad matter worse, women’s paid labour is for the most part undervalued. There are also traditional practices that do not help, as most of these practices tend to give preference to men. Girls drop out of school owing to difficulty in accessing educational facilities and opportunities. In some communities, for example, children have to walk for as long as four miles to access the nearest primary or secondary school, and unfortunately, most girls fall prey to abusive motorcycle riders who get to impregnate them before reaching or completing high school. This has brought about a significant reduction in the number of girls, from the provinces in particular, who access university. In the sciences, women are not doing well. The number of male students who pursue science courses far outweighs that of their female colleagues, in spite of the fact that the government offers full scholarships to all female students pursuing science courses.
The theme for this year’s celebration is “Inspiring Change for Women and Girls' Participation, Advancement and Prosperity’. To truly inspire change, the Sierra Leone Government and its partners need to address these underlying challenges that have collectively hindered efforts at addressing the challenges that women and girls face. There is no way we can inspire a realistic, positive, and practical change without ensuring that we keep girls in schools and universities, and encourage them to acquire livelihood skills to empower themselves economically. There is simply no way we can inspire change for girls and women’s participation if the poverty and illiteracy levels among women and girls remain the same; there is no way we can inspire genuine change if the number of women in parliament keeps dwindling; and certainly inspiring a sustainable and meaningful change needs a committed leadership. It's time for Sierra Leone’s leaders to lead by example.
That would include increasing the number of women in the cabinet, supporting the minimum 30% female representation bill, addressing the bitter experiences of female street hawkers by working with local councils to build market places for them, and investing in primary and secondary education to make education affordable, accessible and meaningful. Addressing gender and sexual-based violence is clearly work in progress, but the government needs to double up its investment in both the investigations department of the police as well as the judiciary.
Increased investment in the justice system is clearly one of the ways we can begin to address the implementation gap in the country’s gender laws. Here is why or how significant funding could help address some of these challenges: The Domestic Violence Act, for example, provides for the establishment of safe homes across the four regions of the country, but nearly seven years since the law was passed, there is no functioning Safe House across the country. The Family Support Unit is ineffective not only because it does not cover most parts of the country, but also because it still faces serious logistics and capacity issues. Most women who are deprived of their right to access land and property do not have an accessible and affordable justice mechanism to turn to. That is truly sad!
Until these underlying factors are addressed, Sierra Leone can celebrate all it likes, but these moments of reflection will continue to ponder the exact issues every single year.
It is important to remember that the hopes, dreams and aspirations of millions of women and girls rest on the decisions and policies we make every day, but more importantly, on the practical actions and meaningful intervention that we make through their lives.
Long live the Women of Sierra Leone! Long live International Women‘s Day!!
Isata Sowa and Ibrahim Tommy work for the Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law in Sierra Leone.
(C) Politico 25/03/14
