According to the Interparliamentary Union (IPU), which keeps track of representation in national parliaments throughout the world, women currently make up 12 percent of Sierra Leone’s Parliament.
The 28-member cabinet of President Julius Maada Bio, who took office in 2018, has four positions held by women.
The Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act was enacted into law on Thursday by President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone. Its goal is to increase the proportion of women in the nation’s top positions, such as parliamentary seats and cabinet positions, to 30%.
The president added in his speech on Thursday that “we men have yet to see or acknowledge women’s true status fully, and this law will provide us the instruments to change that.”
Bio emphasized that his government would make every effort to “stop the impunity or violence against women” in elections and public life and hold accountable “any persons and institutions proven guilty of such violence,” in reference to women’s engagement in politics and running for office.
The president declared that “women who desire to hold public office and their supporters must not be undercut, belittled, intimated, or degraded.”
We must monitor electoral processes to ensure election fairness and transparency. It won’t be simple because men have held that position for a very long time.
The president, who is seeking reelection in the country’s June 2023 presidential vote, said that he expects the Bill to “revolutionize” the Sierra Leone government’s engagement with women by “making them equal partners in our task to build a strong and vibrant country”.
Besides the public sector, the new law would also force companies in the private sector to employ females in 30 percent of senior jobs. Failure to comply and refusing to grant women equal pay and at least 14 weeks maternity leave could result in a fine of 50,000 new leones ($2,580), and a jail sentence of at least three years.
According to the United Nations’ 2020 Gender Development Index (GDI), Sierra Leone’s international ranking is 182nd out of 189 as regards sex equality.
Sputnik
