By Joe Tucker
Women involvement in the political landscape of Sierra Leone has always been a concern. It is a good concept when we are in the ‘New Direction’ and when we compare to developed countries working hand in glove with women – helping them politically developmental oriented. And also especially when they have been lagging behind in not only politics, but in so many areas.
The outcome of the 2018 general elections has proven the poor inclusion of women in politics. It is clear; in the past presidential election, the two female presidential candidates performed poorly. The same goes for women representation in Parliament. When you compare this session of Parliament to the previous one, there has been some reductions.
This, in one instance, is a clear signal that women do not support one another. And that they are yet ready to motivate themselves when it comes to politics. You see that form of negligence on their part to have failed to support and vote for their colleague women candidate. Is it that they do not believe in themselves? Or they just do not think beyond the box?
With concerns as to why a greater percent of them have not been entrusted in most of the top positions is that of not performing well as expected. Many instances have proven that women have always depended on the men to assist them in performing their functions when they head top positions.
The women themselves still have the perception that they cannot perform well in some specific areas. Taking for example the science courses like Engineering, Doctors, Information Technology etc. only few women posed up to do these courses in our universities in Sierra Leone.
Most girls, even when they get the requirement, ignore going for these courses because of the fear that they cannot succeed. But in actual sense the few that have gone for these courses have succeeded and have been performing meaningfully in society. So it is just a matter of hard work and perseverance for doing these courses.
One could also sense that in most of the homes it is either the men are dead or they neglect their women and children to suffer. This and many other instances have demonstrated that women suffer the most in home affairs. And that the inequality against them is too much. As the issue continues to rise up, education is being seen as a solution to this problem. With good education, they will be self reliant and take up the mantle of leadership positions. Thus women are rising up to standards in terms of education in Sierra Leone. But need more leadership positions, especially in politics.
Today, there is no way one can talk about politics without the inclusion of women. His Excellency the President Rtd. Brigadier Julius Maada Bio in his campaign period was requested in an interview to promise the women of what he will do if he wins the 2018 elections. And he promised to include more women in his governance.
The president recalls that if he should have won the 2012 elections in the first instance a woman was going to be his running mate. “This instance shows that I will engage more women in my government,” as he said in an exclusive interview. Even in the presidential debate, he had to promise the women.
Now that he has won the 2018 general elections, the women have looked forward to his promise. As he completes his list of cabinet nominees, only four of the 27 full cabinet positions have gone to women.
So women especially those representing the 50-50 gender parity group have seen this as a disappointment on their part. Dr Fatu Taqi is the head and urged the president to put on “the gender lens” in his appointment of ministers, ambassadors and parastatal positions. There is still hope for them as other appointments that might come on the way is that of Deputy Ministers and Ambassadors. So it good they continue to look forward to the promise as more hope awaits them.
Other African countries have since replicated this. We saw Liberia whose president was a woman. Although she had some challenges, they did not prevent her from doing extremely well. This was proven when she won an international award for the good leadership she maintained and for a smooth transition.
In ‘The Gambia’, also, their current Vice President is a woman. Their past Vice President during the time of President Yaya Jammeh was a woman as well. This signifies that women in Africa are rising up in politics. Sierra Leone should replicate the same. We should strive for women in this part of the country and make them feel that sense of belonging. This is one of the ways in ensuring that a good number of them involve in political participation. It is now recognized to be a right and a requirement for effective governance.