By Alusine Fullah
Do women have an equal opportunity in the workplace, or do they still hit a “glass ceiling” when they take their ambition and talent to the maximum and strive for advancement?
Equality is a systemic issue, and as such making lasting change towards greater gender equity in the workplaces requires getting the whole organizational leaders can/ should implement key practices to help overcome barriers to women’s leadership.
Increased poverty among women in Sierra Leone results from a combination of factors. Over 60 percent of the women constitute food and income poverty of the country, and the literacy level of women stands at 43.9 percent for females (2015 Population and Housing Census report) with greater percentage from the rural population and who face additional hurdles to their economic and social well-being coupled with issues of unpaid and menial jobs.
Women are more ambitious than ever before, and workplace flexibility is fuelling them. To date, the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) has enacted various laws to ensure the protection and promotion of the rights of women and children, such as the Anti-Human Trafficking Act (2005), the Sierra Leone Citizenship Amendment Act (2006), the Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS Act (2007); and the ‘Gender Justice Laws’ namely Domestic Violence Act (2007), Registration of Customary Marriage and Divorce Act (2009), Devolution of Estates Act (2007); Child Rights Act (2007), and the Sexual Offences Act (2012) the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Bill (2023). The enactment of these laws has set the pace for the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment; however the implementation has been fraught with challenges.
In line with that, H.E Bio made a partial cabinet reshuffle, with a percentage of 41% women representing in replacing some ministers who served in his term governance with new people. He (Bio) appointed more women into substantive and deputy ministerial positions out of a total seventeen.
Gender parity in education has improved. Great effort has been made to narrow wide disparities realized in the early 1990s. In 2020, the gender parity gap reduced for primary education. Of the number of children enrolled in primary school, 58 percent were boys and 42 percent were girls. Combining both primary and secondary schools, 63 percent of those enrolled were boys and 37 percent were girls (MDG Report, 2021).
Yet, despite some hard-fought gains, women’s representation is not keeping pace. This means that, the theories are there about women’s protection in workplace, but the practicality is not keeping pace.
In the public service, there are more females in the junior level of the civil service and mostly from the clerical staff. The number and percentage of females surpasses the threshold of the minimum 30 percent quota recommended by the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the new GEWE Act of 2023.
The middle level is similarly progressing well and it is hoped that the intensification of the gender mainstreaming in all sectors will address this inequality in the shortest possible time. Government continues to make some steady progress in the area of governance and the number of Presidential Appointees (Cabinet Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Ambassadors) has increased. It is also observed that there is significant number of female appointees to the “Generals Club,” in State Institutions.
