 Sierra Leonean woman in traditional dress | |
| General statistics | |
|---|---|
| Maternal mortality (per 100,000) | 890 (2010) |
| Women in parliament | 12.4% (2013) |
| Women over 25 withsecondary education | 9.5% (2012) |
| Women in labour force | 65.7% (2012) |
| Gender Inequality Index[1] | |
| Value | 0.633 (2021) |
| Rank | 162nd out of 191 |
| Global Gender Gap Index[2] | |
| Value | 0.672 (2022) |
| Rank | 109th out of 146 |
Sierra Leone, officially theRepublic of Sierra Leone, is a Constitutional Republic in West Africa.[3] Since it was founded in 1792, thewomen in Sierra Leone have been a major influence in the political and economic development of the nation.
Sierra Leonean women face extreme gender inequality.[4] They experience high levels of poverty, violence, and exclusion.[4] Nevertheless, they have also played an important role in the education system, founding schools and colleges, with some such asHannah Benka-Coker being honoured with the erection of a statue for her contributions[5] andLati Hyde-Forster, first woman to graduate fromFourah Bay College being honored with a doctor of civil laws degree by theUniversity of Sierra Leone.[6]
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With the establishment of theProvince of Freedom in 1787, aSherbro known asQueen Yamacouba was a signatory to the treaty of 1787 which ceded the land to the British.[7]
After the destruction of the Province of Freedom in 1789 and the establishment of Freetown and theColony of Sierra Leone in 1792, all heads ofNova Scotian Settler households were eligible to vote in the upcoming elections inFreetown and one-third were ethnic African women.[8]
The majority of the ancestors of theSierra Leone Creole people were repatriatedAfrican American,Jamaican Maroon andLiberated African women principally ofAkan,Igbo andYoruba extraction.[9] Creole households inFreetown were different from traditional African ethnic groups in Sierra Leone in that women had property rights and economic freedom and qualified as professionals such as lawyers and doctors in the early twentieth century.[9] This independence gave women the freedom to travel.[9] As they were financially independent, they were able to divorce to improve their lives economically.[9]
From 1830, the women in Sierra Leone were well known for their trading of non-slave-related items.[10] A notable woman trader of the period wasLiberated AfricanBetsy Carew who had married a butcher, James Thomas, and sold meat to the army.[11]
The Creole female traders wereChristian.[12] Creole women traded along the entirety of theWest Coast expanding both their trade and spreading the Christian religion.[12] However, by 1900 European companies began to dominate trade and the Creoles moved to other professions such as medicine and teaching.[12]
In 1878,Madam Yoko became theQueen of Kpaa Mende Seneghum, which had become one of the largest political alliances within the interior. She also went to war against smaller tribes to increase her holdings.[13] In 1898 she supported the British during a rebellion, which also allowed her to expand her holdings. At the time of her death in 1906, her confederacy had become so large it had to be divided into 15 chiefdoms.[14]
T J. Alldridge the first commissioner of Sierra Leone reported signing peace treaties with two women chiefs in 1889.[15]
In the city ofFreetown, beforeWorld War I a woman's position was decided on either class or ethnicity. TheCreole people were the dominant ethnic group, with some having access to a better education, the wealthier families had their daughters sent to British finishing schools. The majority of Creole women however fell into the lower classes and their education usually did not go beyond elementary school level in a similar vein to their male counterparts of the same class.[16]: 439
In 1915,Adelaide Casely-Hayford played an important part regarding women's rights in Freetown giving a lecture on "The rights of Women and Christian Marriage". In 1923 she founded the "Girls Industrial and Technical Training School" with the aim to make women self-sufficient economically.[16]: 440 In 1930 women were given theright to vote, according to local lawyer J. C. Zizer this could be attributed to the numbers of women who now worked in the civil service where their employment terms were equal to their male counterparts.[16]: 442
In 1938,Constance Cummings-John was the first woman in Africa to be elected to a municipal council and she was the first woman to be elected Mayor of Freetown. Her actions led to the formation of the Sierra Leone Market Women's Union and the Washerwoman's Union.[17] In 1952 she founded theSierra Leone Women's Movement as well as a newspaper.[18] She founded the Eleanor Roosevelt Preparatory School for Girls and funded it from the proceeds of her quarrying business.[19]
In 1943,Frances Wright was called to the bar, becoming the first female lawyer in Sierra Leone, she was also given an appointment by the government as a magistrate.[20] She was a legal adviser to theBritish High Commission in Freetown and was considered a champion of women's rights.[21]
In 1957, four women ran for parliament:Patience Richards,Constance Cummings-John, Ellen G.A. Caulker and Mrs. C.T. Williams. Cummings-John and Richards both won their bids but their party filed electoral petitions against them, preventing them from taking their seats.[22]
In 1960 theNational Congress of Sierra Leone Women (NCSLW), led byNancy Steele was founded as a women's wing of theAll People's Congress (APC).[23]
Two female candidates stood for parliamentary seats in 1967: Yema Catherine Williams and Julie Keturah Kayode.[22]
In the 1973 general electionNancy Steele andEster Lily Coker stood for election as independent candidates.[22] By now Sierra Leone had become a one-party state and their campaigns were unsuccessful.[22]
1978 sawNancy Steele as the sole woman to stand for parliament in the general election.[22]
In 1970, out of the 81 chiefdoms in Sierra Leone, 10 were led by women.[24]
In 1989, UNICEF reported that on average a woman in Sierra Leone worked up to 16 hours a day and that the majority were surviving on just one meal per day. There was a maternal mortality rate of 70% primarily from infections and malnutrition.[25]
Women were greatly impacted by thecivil war in Sierra Leone that took place from 1991 to 2002. Women were impacted by the violence as soldiers and civilians. A number of women and girls became soldiers with theRevolutionary United Front (RUF).[26]
Gendered violence was a widespread tactic by the perpetuators of war.[27][28] A report by theTruth and Reconciliation Commission stated that thousands of women and girls were abducted from their homes and suffered physical-, sexual- and psychological abuse, includingrape and forced pregnancy.[29] Many of them were subject to servitude,slavery andforced cannibalism while others weredrugged,tortured andmurdered.[29] Sierra Leonean women and girls who endured forced pregnancies and gave birth to children by their abusers faced severe social consequences, includingsocial isolation.[26]
Women organized during the war to improve their conditions. One group founded the Sierra Leone Women's Movement for Peace, and using peaceful protests attempted to mediate peace between the warring factions.[30][31] Women played a large role in ending the war through other organizations as well. In these efforts, "They lobbied, advocated and raised consciousness about violence...The women called for elections leading to a democratically elected president and parliament."[32] They were successful their demands for "elections before peace", opposing the call by theNational Provisional Ruling Council, the nation's leading organization at the time, to create "peace before elections."[32]
Many organizations that were founded and ran by women to promote wellbeing during the war were formalized and popularized during the civil war. One, theForum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) (Sierra Leone), improved educational and training access for homeless children during wartime, setting up schools in Grafton, outside ofFreetown. FAWE was established by the then minister of education,Christian Thorpe, in 1995. Other women's groups worked withUnited Nations groups likeUNICEF andUnited Nations Development Fund for Women to educate school-aged children and young women inrefugee andinternal displacement camps. Some leaders of these groups went on to found an international women's organization: theMano River Women's Peace Network (MARWOPNET). The group is made of organizations inGuinea, Sierra Leone,Liberia, andIvory Coast, andNigeria.[32]
In 1994, inspired by theSierra Leone Association of University Women (SLAUW), a group created theWomen's Forum Sierra Leone, an organization that included every the women's association and group in Sierra Leone."[32] This unifying force provided a large force for women's advocacy. Their interests varied in specific projects but centered around women's issues. "These ranged from equality of opportunity in all spheres of national development and growth, to the prevention of violence against women and their families, and to the restoration of peace and democracy in Sierra Leone."[32]
On June 14, 2007, theParliament of Sierra Leone passed three laws which madewife-beating illegal, allowed women to inherit property and protected women fromforced marriage.[33] However, in 2014, 63% of women aged 15–49 still held the belief that male partners were justified in hitting and beating their female partners under certain circumstances.[34]
The 2007 Domestic Violence Act is rarely enforced as survivors are required to submit a medical report to the police. The majority of women in Sierra Leone cannot afford to pay the medical examination fee nor can they afford the cost of a lawyer to represent them.[35] Many women in the rural areas of Sierra Leone still are not aware that domestic violence is a crime or of their rights.[35]
In 2012, 10,000 Sierra Leonean men participated in a project called Husband School where they learned aboutgender equality,domestic violence,reproductive health,female genital mutilation andfamily planning.[35] Husband School is organized by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Fambul Initiative Network for Equality Sierra Leone (FINE-SL).[35] Attendance is enforced by local Paramount Chiefs.[35]
The adoption of Registration of Customary Marriages and Divorce Act made 18 the legal age for marriage.[33] Prior to this, there was no minimum age for marriage nor was consent from both parties a prerequisite.[36] In rural Sierra Leone, it was not uncommon for girls under the age of 13 to be given in marriage to elderly men.[36] The law aims to protect women and girls from forced marriage as well as physical, sexual and financial abuse.[36]
In January 2023 theGender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act (GEWE) was signed into law in Sierra Leone. It mandates 30% of public and private positions be reserved for women (including in parliament), provides for increased workplace training opportunities for women, allows women fourteen weeks of maternity leave, punishes discrimination against women who seek access to financial services or resources, requires equal pay for women and men working in the same job, and requires yearly reviews of the GEWE’s implementation in public and private institutions.[37]
Women in Sierra Leone have extremely limited reproductive rights.[38] Until 2007, women and girls could still be given in marriage by their families without their consent.[36]
Sierra Leone has one of the world's highest maternal and infant mortality rates.[36][39]
Contraception is used by 16% of adult women in Sierra Leone and 7.8% of teenage girls.[39][40]
In 2013, Sierra Leone had the 7th highest teen pregnancy rate in the world.[38] 38% of Sierra Leonean women aged 20–24 had given birth to their first baby before the age of 18.[39][34] Teenage pregnancy is a major contributing factor to Sierra Leone's high maternal mortality rate as teenage mothers have a 40%-60% risk of dying in childbed.[39] Babies born to teenage mothers have a 50% higher risk of being stillborn or dying shortly after birth than babies born to mothers over the age of 20.[39]
Abortion is illegal in Sierra Leone under any circumstances.[41] The law banning abortion was passed in 1861, under the British colonial government.[42] In 2015, PresidentErnest Bai Koroma refused to sign the Safe Abortion Act, due to opposition from religious leaders, and said that the issue should be put to a referendum. Unsafe abortions account for 10% of maternal deaths.[41][42]
In 2022, the government backed a "risk-free motherhood" bill to legalise abortion.[43] The cabinet of PresidentJulius Maada Bio unanimously supported the bill, which is slated to be submitted to Parliament.[42]
ExcludingSierra Leone Creole women who do not practice or engage infemale genital mutilation, 9 out of 10 girls and women in Sierra Leone have undergonefemale genital mutilation, often as part of the traditionalBundu orBondu initiation ceremony into theSande society.[34] Generally in Sierra Leone, where literacy levels among women is less than forty percent,[44] there is still a positive view offemale genital mutilation.[34] Two-thirds of girls and women undergo the practice between ages 5 and 14.[34]
The names are placed in chronological order:
On June 14, 2007, theParliament of Sierra Leone passed three laws which madewife-beating illegal, allowed women to inherit property and protected women fromforced marriage.[33]
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