Recognizing Women in the 21st Century
March 8th has been commemorated every year in Sierra Leone as International Women’s Day since 1990.
The day is set aside to reflect on women’s values and worth with regards their valid contributions in the socio-economic and human development transformations. Women in Sierra Leone have moved a lot of indexes from the job limit role of housewives to educational elites, managers, politicians, and all that used to be male chauvinistic in carrying out.
Women in Sierra Leone have long been advocating for a fifty percent female representation in politics to seal the uneven statistics of representations and succeeded in earning a 30% quota in the Gender Act laws of the country, which enhances them a legal participation in governance and governance related issues. This goes with a requirement of heightening their educational backgrounds and levels of exposure to make them fit to their expected roles of performances.
Now the women are saying if they are being educated, it will replicate a multiplier effect in the values of education in the country; and it would save the much talked about infant mortality and maternal morbidity rate; it would enable women to read simple medical instructions on medicines to be applied to their young. Overdoses of applied medicines have been a major source of infant mortality in the country.
Women are also now saying that the country’s development should be a concerted effort of both its male and female citizens. With the proverbial saying of ‘behind a successful man there is a determined and hardworking woman,’ they claim to have borrowed a leaf from their African women counterparts in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Guinea, and others to work side by side with men so that they can achieve a greater goal of national transformation of Affirmative Actions.
Fifty years have passed on witnessing no major development in Sierra Leone. At fifty years the only commodity to be proud of is the country’s nascent democracy; and it thus provides equal rights for citizens to vote and be voted for, to develop and be developed, to protect and be protected, the list goes on.
We at Sierra Express Media believe Sierra Leone can join Nigeria, Ghana, and others in transformative developments through gender empowerment and equal participation.
As all women move to celebrate their day, we at Sierra Express Media wish them, the world over, a successful commemoration. We bid all of them success in their various endeavours.
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