I think that, as a privileged woman, I need to help these women, but not by treating them like a child., Once this problem is out of the way, we must address Payals second point, which is that, education systems have a tendency toward stability rather than change, and tend to reproduce social hierarchy and inequality. There are multiple solutions to this problem. When it comes to education, everyone should be given the same opportunity no matter their race, gender or color. Firstly, the only way to decrease the educational gap between males and females is to implement policies that decrease or completely remove school fees for girls and prohibit families from removing their daughters from school before the age of 18. For example, if a man who was lazy and did somewhat of a decent job then he would most likely to be promoted, however if this was a woman then she would most likely not be promoted. This refers to the unequal treatment and lack of equal opportunities for individuals based on their gender, with women and girls often facing discrimination and disadvantage. Imagine being someone who was free, but oppressed in other ways; to be unable to work the same way that a man was no matter how smart you were, to be forced into doing what ladies do; to be stepped over and disregardedall because of the gender you were born as. Sierra Leonean women are at risk for sexual and gender-based violence in the form of domestic violence, sexual assault of adults and minors, marital rape, school-related sexual abuse, and harmful traditional practices like female genital mutilation. I would also like to know more about how far our society has improved in addressing this and where would I find sources elaborating our societys progress?, Yes, I Do Work Like a Girl: A Real Issue of Gender Inequality in the Workplace Speakers, including members of parliament and the Deputy Speaker of Parliament expressed their belief that the HeForShe Campaign will serve as a stepping board in putting an end to gender inequality by 2030. Historically, women have been discriminated against and are heavily under-represented in the Gender inequity is a large issue being faced in Sierra Leone. 140 years ago, imagine being in bondage, oppressed, maybe even tortured; to have to go about your life constantly under the watch of someone else; to be bruised and beaten and brokenall because of the color of your skin. Rand wrote this story in 1937 in a form of a diary. In workplace, both single women and men were expected to carry heavier workload. The root causes of conflict: evidence and policy implications. Women in Sierra Leone are used just like weapons in war (Ben-Ari & Harsch). Our society thrives off of each person being unique from everyone else, but still being treated equally. Freetown was established as a British colony where the slave trade was suppressed and Creoles dominated . Schools in Sierra Leone reopened in April 2015 after the world's worst recorded Ebola outbreak. The idea of Gender Equality does not require that girls and boys, or women and men, be the same, or that they be treated exactly alike. He also called on Sierra Leonean men to treat girls as their daughters instead of wives. Addressing gender inequalities and promoting women's and girls' empowerment to build an equal future for all children COVID-19: a crisis for women and girls . This cycle of life has been around since . Traditionally in Haitian culture women are the head of the household but still place their husbands authority above them. Their voice, visibility, participation, and representation in elective and appointment positions remain very low compared to men. However once an individual passes the tender age of five it is time to begin learning the lessons of the world. But he has now become a fighter for the cause of women to realize their potentials. Information released online before January, 2021. The voices of Sierra Leonean women are ignored in the debate about their own sexual and reproductive health. For example transfer of state resources to the elite. Almost 50% of Sierra Leonean females endure "sexual or physical violence during their lifetime." . One solution is to send more students studying abroad, which would show the students what the rest of the world thinks of women. Overall, 10 million women and children are expected to benefit.7 Box1. Gender equality is a term that is commonly misunderstood by many. In recent years the government and its partners, including USAID have been focusing on providing women with access to financial services as it has the potential to act as a catalyst for enhancing womens economic, social and political empowerment. To accomplish this, the . These, Equality lives in a collectivist society, which is a society that believes, that man must be chained to collective action and collective thought for the sake of what is called the common good. Therefore, Equality being the person he is, struggles with being an individual. Sierra Leone has sustained low literacy rates, in 2013 this was still extremely low at 32.4% (World Bank). According to the Gender Inequality Index (GII), Denmark was the most gender equal country in the world in 2021. As we have earned in class, equality and justice is not the same thing. The legacy of general liberal education under colonialism, whereby positions such as clerks needed to be filled by a literate individual perpetuates in the universal primary education of today where those rural unprivileged will maintain their place in poverty. In M. Berdal & D. Malone (Eds. After these problems are addressed, it is easy to see how more education can provide a better world for the, Too often remarks such as selfish, self-centered, lacking in responsibility or cold were associated with childfree women (McQuillan et al., 2012). Inequality and Poverty: A Marxist-Geographic Theory., Addison, T. (2001) From Conflict to Recovery in Africa, Oxford University Press pg 31-39. Prohibiting women from going to school means prohibiting them from accomplishing their goals and becoming independent. Nearly 60 per cent of people live below the poverty line and the effects of the pandemic are . These qualities are just some of the degrading aspects of inequality. Vice President Victor Bockarie Foh Signing the HeForShe Board. Awareness raising on relevant legislation involving gender based violence, support to access free legal counselling/representation, and access to medical care for the victims and survivors of gender-based violence are among the key activities. Power, moral authority, social privileges, control over land and property has mainly been in the hands of men. The divided country economically was also enhanced by the political structure of separate administrative systems during colonialism, which left rural areas with a very limited political voice. In urban contexts, women are carving paths to inclusion across . Do you have a 2:1 degree or higher? Their leaders are the Council of Vocations enforced those rules, and the people that over-rule them are the World Council. Giving birth to a child should not drastically change the status of females. He states, And in our heart-strange are the ways of evil! Equality is such an important thing in our everyday lives. The history witnesses how people mistreated the others and how other people fought for freedom. I have seen reasons why women must be empowered and supported, and I am going to join the campaign, he said. This International Women's Day, we celebrate the icons who blazed the trail towards gender equality. Copyright 2022 IPL.org All rights reserved. Women account for 52 percent of the total population in Sierra Leone yet occupy less than 20 . For every 1,000 girls in Sierra Leone, 112 will become mothers between ages 15 and 19. The event was hosted by the Parliament, with a large number of Parliamentarians attending, as well as the First Lady Mrs. Sia Nyama Koroma, representatives of Government and the cabinet, including the Ministers of Internal Affairs, Fisheries and Marine Resources, Water Resources, Political and Public Affairs, and Tourism. In Sierra Leone, a gender gap in education persists, particularly from secondary school onwards where lower levels of female participation are recorded, due in part to forms of violence and discrimination directed against girls. Through the Protection of Women through Empowerment and Response (POWER) project, USAID is working to support up to 1,000 women and girls in rural communities within the eastern Kenema district. Their voices are being drowned out by the resistance of conservative religious groups and reluctant government officials. "MediaGlobal: Bold womens rights legislation in Sierra Leone, "Sierra Leone: Fighting Gender Bias Ahead of Elections. The Sierra Leone parliament has passed a long-awaited Gender Empowerment Act which establishes a minimum gender quota for female parliamentarians. This situation is in turn perpetuating a vicious cycle of poverty and gender inequality from generation to generation. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Too many girls and women are still dying in childhood and in the reproductive ages. However like many other countries, Sierra Leon is known for not providing these opportunities for girls. The system required totally restructuring, which to this day has not been fulfilled. Equality started a family with his beloved, The Golden One and lived happily ever after (Rand, n.pag.). Sierra Leone 2015 Housing and Population Survey and other studies indicated that more women than men are unemployed, poor, illiterate and are sexually assaulted. Because of all these discriminations and inequalities meted on them, pressure . In particular, it highlights women's increasing agency in acquiring knowledge, diffusing power, engaging in grassroots politics, and compelling the government to adopt . Women in Sierra Leone have always made vital contributions to the economy and have often played a substantial role in the subsistence of their families. The country experienced complete economic and social collapse. The world should be a much better place and it will be if only people work for the common good of the people and abolishing the law. He comes to the realization that there is more to life than serving other people, and that he owes nothing to his brothers or his society. Addressing Gender-Based Violence in Sierra Leone 2 Executive summary From July 4th-14th 2006, International Alert conducted a mapping of the incidence of GBV and the programmes that are being implemented to address it in Sierra Leone on behalf of Irish Aid. This clearly determines the behavior of a man or woman in the society. 29.6% of women aged 20-24 years old who were married or in a union before age 18. Introduction: Gender inequality towards women in Sierra Leone can be described as inequitable or impractical compared to the equality of women in developed/western countries. Sierra Leone Gender Analysis. Every person is born to be different. The $40 million estimated tax lost to Sierra Leone from 2009-2016 with Sierra Rutile company is enough to cover the health care of over 67,000 Sierra Leonean women and children for one year under the country's Free Health Care Initiative. The estimated levels of inequality for Sierra Leone in 1831 seem consistently lower than for all contemporary settler coloniesincluding Brazil and all estimates of wealth inequality from the United States of the early nineteenth century. The female literacy rate has gone from 16.7 percent in 1996 to 23 percent in 2004 (MDGs Sierra Leone). To others, injustice may appear judicially and politically; Ivan Henry and David Milgaard were both wrongfully convicted of sexual, Equality finally gets to escape his miserable society and all the institutions, practices, and officials that are a part of it. USAID helps empower women in Sierra Leone through continuous sensitization, training in leadership skills, advocacy and planning and entrepreneurship. that early marriage and teenage pregnancy can have on the lives of girls and their families. Gender equality is also a precondition for advancing development and reducing poverty. In third world countries, girls are fighting their families, communities, and countries in order to go to school. There is also a very large amount of domestic violence towards women. In 2022, global gender gap index for Sierra Leone was 0.67 index. The adolescent birth rate is 102 per 1,000 women aged 15-19 as of 2018, down from 139.4 per 1,000 in 2015. Achieving gender equity remains a challenge in Sierra Leone. He knows it is against the law but he enjoys knowledge so much, it confuses him. The representations of how mothers are the caretakers of a home affect the younger generations perspective about gender roles because they base ideas and beliefs, With these policies implemented, females will be more represented and schools and narrow the gender gap between males and females and increase the enrollment rate of females in schools. Rape and sexual violence and abuse are no doubt one of the most obvious societal factors. Instead, they focused upon areas such as Freetown for investment which they would prosper the most, simply widening the gap between rural rich and urban poor. The women of Sierra Leone have faced and still face grave inequalities, but this issue has started to have some solid improvement. Believers in equal rights for women are celebrating Sierra Leone's just-passed Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (GEWE) Act, which mandates equal pay for equal work, maternity leave, financial inclusion, and a 30% quota of women in government appointments and private institutions with more than 25 employees (AYV News, 2022). The death of a young woman in Sierra Leone, almost immediately after undergoing female genital mutilation, has sparked outrage and revived calls to end the practice.. Equality breaks these rules and escapes his suffocating home to create his own society of independent people. A strong emphasis on the human rights, including reproductive rights, of individual women and men underpins all of UNFPA's work. Women hold 12.3% of seats in Sierra Leone's Parliament. Freetown, Sierra Leone, and Rockville, Maryland, USA: Stats SL and ICF. Sierra Leone faces several problems regarding various forms of sexual violence, including domestic violence, sexual assault, rape of adults and minors, marital rape, and school-related sexual abuse, as well as supposedly harmful practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM). Vice President Victor Bockarie Foh Signing the HeForShe Board. The dominance of ruling class families meant chiefs received little competition and their guaranteed role for life meant they were at liberty to act despotically (Jackson and Rosberg 1982:17-19). by Megan Borishansky Historical Background Colonized by the British as a territory for liberated slaves known as Creoles or "Krios", Sierra Leone's history is one of class divisions and gender inequality, compounded by the civil war of 1992-2002 and struggles over natural resources. The flexibility parents had in work was denied in childfree workers., Without the gender pay gap closed the United States citizens suffer many consequences. Inequality is state of being unequal, particularly in rights, status and opportunities (UN 2015) this could mean in living standards, gender and many other metrics. Despite this, there have been positive changes in regard to gender equality in Sudan. Presenting the Bill to MPs, the Minister She further explained that Sierra Leone has a low gender inequality index value of 0.64 ranking. The body of 21-year-old . The country has a Gender Inequality Index-GII value of 0.644, ranking it 153 out of 162 countries in the 2018 Index. Stewart, F. (1998). A combination of cultural prejudices and harsh economic realities join hands, in making life particularly difficult for our ladies. Oxfam in Sierra Leone. Here you can choose which regional hub you wish to view, providing you with the most relevant information we have for your specific region. Celebrate women leaders on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response and beyond, I am Generation Equality: Working together to achieve a gender-equal world, UNFPA Executive Director on International Womens Day. Also, new workshops are being put on to support womens rights (Kandeh). Father Ferree wrote the social justice and talked about the most vulnerable and how everyone has a duty to help those in need. As a black Haitian woman raised in America, it is clear to see that my identity occupies several spheres. Gender-based violence perpetrated against women and girls continues to be one of the most prevalent and pervasive problems in post-conflict Sierra Leone. This created the root of the overwhelming and still existing problem of corruption in Sierra Leone whereby individuals of power failed to act in the best interests of the majority, which of course is the rural population. The Opening of a Ten Day Training for Officers on Gender by the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces Gender Unit. UNDP Residence Coordinator, Sunil Saigal signs the HeForShe board. Also, after schooling the number of women in the workforce has gone from 51.3 percent to 53 percent from 1996 to 2004 (MDGs Sierra Leone). ), Greed and grievance. There has been progress, today, more girls and women are literate than ever before, and in a third of developing countries, there are more girls in school than boys. The Sierra Leone Telegraph: 26 September 2013. An official website of the United States government. She added that, gender inequality is a global concern and Sierra Leone is not an exception. Later the essay will explore to what extent contemporary policy attempts, specifically Structural Adjustment Plans, have succeeded in breaking the poverty cycle and reducing inequality. Achieving gender equity remains a challenge in Sierra Leone. Gender discrimination and poverty. In Ayn Rands novella Anthem, we are introduced to this society that has fallen back into the times of the Great Rebirth. These factors are compounded by poverty, gender discrimination, long distances to schools, perceived low value placed on education, negative social norms practices such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM - 86.1 per cent), early marriage (30 per cent of women are married before age . The third one of these goals is to promote gender equality and empower women (MDGs Sierra Leone). Sierra Leone: Gender Inequalityby Chris Crane. There have been multiple attempts to create a more equal society and reduce the overwhelming amount of poverty in Sierra Leone, these have been sourced from institutions such as the World Bank, however it is debatable how true their impact has really been with their strong neoliberal bias. UN Sierra Leone continues to partner with the Government of Sierra Leone in prioritizing gender equality in its development plan, the UN . The world citizens held different viewpoints. "Sierra Leone war crimes: Women speak out, Kargbo, Fatmata. Growing up in a educationally disadvantaged community I had always held the view that women didnt hold management positions, however since enrolled in college my views have significantly changed. These aspects have not completely disappeared in the modern day; they are just not as blunt as before. The country had been recovering from an 11-year war, which destroyed infrastructure and basic social services, when it was hit by an Ebola outbreak in 2014. At the African Womens Leadership conference in Sierra Leone, President Koroma assures women of 30% quota by end of office. For the individual woman, poverty and gender inequality are key factors affecting demand for healthcare services. Women grow between 60% and 80% of the world's food but often they have reduced access to the materials they need and even the food they produce. The Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs (MSWGCA) is one of the constituent Ministries of the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone (GoSL) that is charged with the responsibility of responding to the social needs pertaining to Gender inequalities, social depravity of groups like the disabled, women rights, child rights, Religious rights among others in Sierra Leone. The dominance of an agricultural based economy highlighted previously, was reverted to after independence, due to an imperial economic structure built only to benefit the colonial power and not to sustain future growth. Equality can be a wonderful thing in kindergarten. In Sierra Leone, over 700,000 households (58 percent of total households) are engaged in agriculture, mostly of a subsistence nature, with approximately 250,000 households involved in the fishery sector. Ismail is now an eager volunteer to take the message to his home in the provinces of Sierra Leone. On this International Womens Day, we celebrate all women, and particularly those leading the charge for equality. The current Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa has infected 27,237 peoplealmost exclusively in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leoneof whom 11,158 died. In Figure 2, they are shown in the center of the triangle that leads up to . By Abu Bakarr Benson, Youth & Girl Activist, Sierra Leone. This executive summary lays out highlights from the report Addressing Educational Gender Inequality Through Tech-Ed Solutions in Sierra Leone, written by Max Bell School Master of Public Policy students as part of the 2021 Policy Lab. Equality is giving someone the same opportunity to make them equal. A very ridiculous law has gone in effect in April to ban girls who are pregnant from school even if it was a, It is the 21st century and although politics and the world is never perfect, inequality should not be an issue we as a world should talk about. 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