Uman Tok with Princetta Williams

Women continue to bear the brunt of the backward state of the country and this is one aspect which I am ready, and willing to fight at all costs. Here in Sierra Leone the situation is clearly getting out of hand as we continue to see how women are suffering as a result of ignorance, illiteracy, and total disregard for gender equality by the men folk. (Photo: Princetta Williams, author)

Women’s concern

Women continue to be the most marginalized species in Sierra Leone even though there is a clear indication that they are the providers of basics in the communities where they live.

In most homes, women are the bread winners and they are the ones feeding the family. Women have the care of the children, especially the babies, and they are the ones who spend time with the kids till they are able to fend for themselves. But in all their contribution to the family, they are still seen as the weaker sex and the ones who should be marginalsed.

A woe to men?

Are women a woe to men? This is what is implied by some men. There are men who will never be seen laundering their baby’s napkins, and those seen to be engaged in this act are regarded with scorn as under the influence and control of their wives. A macho tendency still continues to exist with the belief that women should do all the work in the household, notwithstanding the fact that the men might not be engaged in any contribution in the household, including taking care of their own kids.

The 50/50 drawback

When women asked for a fifty-fifty equality status in Sierra Leone, it generated a serious problem. Already, there have been a lot of divorce cases in homes related with men who saw the whole phenomenon as a challenge to their status quo.

50/50 is not a challenge to men but simply a call for women to be regarded not as chattels but as partners in the home and in the country. Women complement men in the home as well as in the country. Behind every successful man, it has been said, is a woman.

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