Source: Family Support Unit, FREETOWN

The table reveals that:

The incidence of violence against women has been on the increase. The overall number of cases rose by 85.4 per cent between 2002 and 2004.

From reported cases, the incidence of rape appears to be on the decline. The occurrence of domestic violence increased significantly in the first two years, but a decline is recorded for 2004.

The incidence of unlawful carnal knowledge is on the increase.

12.13.3 Between January and December 2004, only 27.7 per cent cases reported were resolved either legally or at domestic level. One important achievement though is that a database is being developed on issues of women’s health.

12.13.4 Non Governmental Organizations who work on women’s rights issues do provide training for health care givers and other service deliverers to enable them to detect and manage health consequences of GBV and Sexual Abuse. There is no data available but GBV soared during and after the war. International Rescue Committee (IRC) has the Rainbow Centre in Freetown, Kono and Kenema to assist survivors with health care services and counseling. The Police has set up FSUs in the Western area and regional and district headquarter towns in the country.

.12.13.5 The culture of silence surrounding GBV will to a very large extent prevent victims who are sexually abused do come out. There is however no complaints procedure to detect and prosecute healthcare workers who sexually abuse patients they are supposed to protect.

Table 2 . Family Support Unit National Statistical Information , January – December 2004

Offences	No. of Cases	No. of Cases charged	No. of cases under investigation	No. of cases in High Court	No. of Convictions	No. of cases Resolved
Rape	77	48	22	07	00	00
Unlawful Canal Knowledge	429	267	134	15	13	00
Indecent Assault	52	33	09	05	05	00
Assault with intention to ravish	14	07	03	03	01	00
Procurement	160	27	93	00	00	00
Abduction	20	07	13	00	00	00
Assault, Wounding, Threatening Remarks (domestic violence)	1033	517	318	00	28	170
Beating, Abandonment, Neglect III – treatment, expose (cruelty to children)	308	138	74	00	00	96
Absconded Child	303	00	00	00	00	303
Found child	60	00	00	00	00	60
Child Stealing	17	00	00	00	00	17
Total	2473	1044	666	30	47	686

Source: Family Support Unit of the Sierra Leone Police, Freetown .

12.14 Violence against Women

12.14.1 There exist laws relating to violence against women such as rape, assault/battery and/or wounding. In situations of rape, for example, the legal or common law definition of rape is when a man gets carnal knowledge (sexual intercourse) with a woman without her consent. The three (3) elements for the offence of rape are:

(i) carnal knowledge, (ii) lack of consent of the woman and (iii) a man commits the crime against a woman.

12.14.2 Similarly, for all forms of sexual violence, especially trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, age of consent is not applicable and considered irrelevant as a defence. Sections 6 & 7 of the “Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, Cap 31 of The Laws of 1960 as amended” states that “the consent of a girl is irrelevant, ….that all girls under fourteen years of age cannot engage in any lawful sexual intercourse whether as prostitutes or otherwise”

12.14.3 To deter perpetrators, Section 6 and 7 of Cap 31 provides that:

“Whosoever shall unlawfully and carnally know and abuse any girl under the age of thirteen years, whether with or without her consent, shall be guilty of felony, and shall be liable on conviction before the High Court to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for any period not exceeding fifteen years” and

“Whosoever shall unlawfully and carnally know and abuse any girl above the age of thirteen years and under the age of fourteen years, whether with or without her consent, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be liable on conviction before the High Court to imprisonment with or without hard labour, for any period not exceeding two years”.

12.15 Chastisement of Wives

12.15.1 There is no provision in the Constitution of Sierra Leone that gives right to husbands to chastise their wives. Equally though there are no sanctions exercised against men who chastise their wives. Among all ethnic groups in Sierra Leone, it is an accepted practice for husbands to chastise their wives or female relatives. Under customary law, a husband has the right to “reasonably chastise his wife by physical force” (Joko Smart, H.M.; Sierra Leone Customary Family Law, Freetown, 1983, page 152) as cited in the TRC Report.

12.16 Violent Behaviour Between Spouses

12.16.1 Violent behaviour between spouses in Sierra Leone is usually also surrounded by a “culture of silence”. Most of the interventions still emanate from within the community, employing mediation most of the time to address the offending behaviour and its implications. It is generally considered an aberration by the wider society to involve “outside parties”, such as the police or social welfare services, in mediation sessions. There are also public campaigns to raise awareness on gender-based violence by women groupsand radio discussions on domestic violence.

12.16.2 The Domestic Violence Bill 2006 is before Parliament awaiting passage. It makes provision among others: a person in a domestic relationship shall not engage in domestic violence; any person in a domestic relationship who engages in domestic violence commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five (5) million Leones or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both; and when a cause for complaints has arisen between persons in a domestic relationship and the persons do not co-habit, none of those persons shall enter into the residence of the other person without permission.

13 A rticle 6: S uppression of the E xploitation of W omen

13.1 Legal Measures

13.1.1 Prior to the enactment of the Adoption Act, 1989, young girls were allegedly trafficked out of Sierra Leone by foreigners on the pretext of adoption. These girls were used mainly as domestic slaves in the countries to which they were exported. Section 4 of the Act provides that the applicant for an adoption must be resident in Sierra Leone and that the juvenile must have been in the applicant’s care for at least six consecutive months prior to the application for adoption to the Chief Social Development Officer.

13.1.2 Until August 2005, there were no firm laws against trafficking of women and girls and the available provisions for protecting vulnerable girls were weak. The country was one of origin, transit, and destination for international trafficked persons. The majority of victims were women and children. There is no quantitative study on trafficking, and no study on trafficking, no specific figures existed on the number of persons trafficked. Persons were trafficked out of the country to destinations in West Africa Lebanon, Europe, and North America. The country served as a transit point for persons from West Africa and possibly Middle East.

13.1.3 In an effort to combat trafficking of persons into the sex trade, government authorities became more vigilant in their efforts to close brothels, which were perceived as perpetuating trafficking. The government also began to publicize trafficking issues through government sponsored radio programs and official statements in the press.

13.1.4 The Sierra Leone police take the lead on trafficking issues. The government worked closely with NGOs on trafficking related issues to develop training programs but was hampered by a lack of resources and an incomplete understanding of the problem. The incidence of human trafficking reached its peak during and immediately after the civil war causing Women’s Groups and CSOs to put pressure on Government for intervention. This compelled government to pass the Anti-Human Trafficking Act No.7 of 2005 which came into force on the 18th August, 2005. The Law Enforcement Officers are yet to be trained on the provisions in the Anti-Human Trafficking Act for effective implementation.

13.2Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation

13.2.1It is noteworthy, that Section 2(1) of the Act makes trafficking in persons an offence and section 2(2) & (3) defines trafficking and exploitation thus:

“A person engages in the trafficking in person if he undertakes the recruitment, transportation, transfer, habouring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation”.

13.3 According to subsection (2) of the law, “exploitation” includes, at a minimum –

keeping a person in a state of slavery;

Subjecting a person to practices similar to slavery;

Compelling or causing a person to provide forced labour or services;

keeping a person in a state of servitude including sexual servitude;

Exploitation of the prostitution of another;

Engaging in any other form of commercial sexual exploitation, including but not limited to pimping, pandering, procuring, profiting from prostitution, maintaining a brothel, child pornography, illicit removal of human organs;

Exploitation during armed conflicts.

13.3.1This all-embracing definition is welcome as it covers the issue of prostitution, which hitherto was considered separately. In addition it applies to everybody who is directly or indirectly involved in trafficking.

Another significant element about the new Act is the provision by section 15 thatthe consent of the victim and the legal age of consent to sex or legal age of marriage are irrelevant in the prosecution of offenders.

The section under reference reads: In a prosecution for trafficking under section 2 –

the consent of a victim to the intended or realized exploitation is irrelevant where any of the means specified in subsection (2) of that section has been used;

a victim’s past sexual behavior is irrelevant and inadmissible for the purpose of proving that the victim was engaged in other sexual behavior or to prove the victim’s sexual predisposition;

the recruitment, transportation, transfer, habouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be regarded as trafficking in person even if this does not involve any of the means specified in subsection (2) of section 2.

the legal age of consent to sex, the legal age of marriage or other discretionary age shall not be a defence to trafficking.

13.3.3This law technically extends its provisions for trafficking in persons to include sexual exploitation of women and prescribes a stiff penalty of Fifty (50) Million Leones fine or 10years imprisonment term. This has served as a deterrent to potential offenders because of its severity. Although supporting data on trends are not available, there is a perceived decline in the incidence of trafficking since the introduction of the law.

13.3.4Another unique dimension which has enhanced the effectiveness of the law, is section 23 which makes provisions for the compensation of the victims of trafficking. This is a new trend in the criminal jurisprudence of the municipal laws of Sierra Leone. In traditional criminal law, the target was just punishing the offender and no provision made for the compensation of the victim of the crime. This is a positive development borrowed from International Criminal Jurisprudence where compensating the victim is treated on equal footing as punishing the offender which should be extended to other issues relating to the violation of human and women’s rights.

13.4 Prostitution

13.4.1The law applicable against prostitution is provided by sections 22 and 30 of the Summary Conviction Offences Act, Cap 37 of the Laws of Sierra Leone 1960 as amended and states that:

“Every common prostitute or night-walker loitering or being in any thoroughfare, or public place, for the purpose of prostitution or solicitation, to the annoyance of the inhabitants or passengers, shall be liable, on conviction, to a fine, not exceeding forty Shillings, for every such offence”.

13.4.2 As is usual with most patriarchal societies where prostitution is seen as a female offence and male partners are not punishable for same offence, the determinants and fine for the offence are both discriminatory and too flimsy to deter offenders or reverse the practice. A penalty of between twenty and forty pounds or imprisonment for maximum term of four months against brothel keepers is insufficient to detract people from exploring and organizing prostitution as a livelihood.

13.4.3Furthermore, social attitudes that abhor prostitutes (i.e. women), while commending their male clients is not only paradoxical but contradictory to the principles of equality. Change in social attitudes and norms will be required for effective implementation of legislative and other measures aimed at curbing prostitution.

13.5Challenges to Suppressing Prostitution

13.5.1 There are several challenges to eliminating prostitution and trafficking in women, in post-war Sierra Leone. Firstly, high unemployment rates especially among female youths in the country particularly in the city of Freetown and other big towns. Lack of education makes it difficult for women and girls to secure gainful employment either in the public or private sectors. In addition, some of these female young prostitutes are ex-combatants who were sexually abused and have had difficulties resuming normal life after the war. Many affected youths lost their parents or guardians in the course of the civil war and therefore do not have family or other support systems to guide their moral, physical and psychological development and also meet their financial needs.

14 A rticle 7: E quality in P olitical and P ublic L ife

14.1 Legal and other measures adopted

14.1.1The 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone, Act No. 6 section 31 guarantees every citizen being eighteen years (18) of age and above and of sound mind, the right to vote and be voted for in all elections – local and national and public referenda. By extension thereof, the Constitution provides that no Sierra Leonean regardless of sex, religion, ethnicity, property or other qualifications be denied the right to hold any public office, form or belong to a political party of his/her choice.

14.2 However this constitutional provision is not enjoyed equitably by women and men in practice. In general, internal party operational modalities and candidate nomination procedures favour men to the disadvantage of women. In addition, attitudinal and cultural perceptions that resist women’s appointment into public leadership positions continue, among other challenges, to militate against women in this arena. Furthermore, the barriers that prevent women from embarking on a political career are both practical (lack of time, money or literacy level and training) and psychological (lack of confidence, fear of failure, and dislike of the culture of politics).

14.3 In response to the above challenges, the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs initiated the formation of a Taskforce for Women in Politics (TAFWIP) in 2001. This project aimed at reducing barriers to women’s entry into politics by mobilizing women for active participation in politics, increased registration of women as voters, advocating for women’s political empowerment.

14.4 However the initiative has not been sustained thus its impact has been difficult to ascertain. Similarly, the Ministry in collaboration with National Democratic Institute (NDI) provided capacity building training for female political candidates. The Ministry also facilitated the setting-up of the Network of Women Ministers and Parliamentarians (NEWMAP) to enhance networking among high level public female officials and Parliamentarians.

14.5 To enhance women’s participation in decision- making, Section 95 (2c) of the Local Government Act 2004 provides that within every District, the Ward Development Committees i.e. the level closest to the community pursues a statutory 50/50 gender balance affirmative policy. This has created an unprecedented opportunity for accommodating women’s views and voices in public policy formulation to ensure that women’s priorities and concerns are equitably reflected in local planning. This initiative is expected to help dispel myths surrounding women’s participation on an equal basis with men. It is expected to serve as grooming ground for women leaders and showcase the added value of women’s participation in public and political life to overall development.

14.6 Actual progress made to promote the participation of women in political and public life

Table 3. Showing percentage distribution of Women in political and Leadership positions 1996

Politics	Male	Female	Total	% Male	% Female
Presidential Candidates (1996)	14	01	15	93.3	6.6
Cabinet Ministers (1996)	23	02	25	92.0	8.0
Deputy Ministers (1996)	18	02	20	90.0	10.0
Parliamentarians (1996)	75	05	80	93.75	6.25
Paramount Chiefs	139	10	149	93.3	6.7
National Electoral Commission (Chief & Provincial Commissioners) 1996	05	00	05	100	0.0

Source: Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs, National Programme of Action 1997-2001 (November 1996).

Table 4. Showing percentage distribution of women in political and leadership positions 2002.

Political Process/Positions	Male	Female	Total	% Male	% Female
Voter (general elections (2002	1,172,313	1,155,661	2,327,974	50.4	49.6
Presidential Candidates (2002)	07	01	08	87.5	12.5
Cabinet Ministers (2002)	18	03	21	87.7	14.3
Deputy Ministers (2002)	07	03	10	70.0	30.0
Parliamentarians (2002)	106	18	124	85.5	14.5
Parliamentarians (2006)	105	19	124	84.7	15.3

Source: National Electoral Commission

14.6.1 Executive/Cabinet

14.6.1.1 In the 1996 Presidential and Parliamentary electionsthere was a female Presidential aspirant who withdrew her candidature just before the polls. Two female Cabinet Ministers (Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs and Ministry of Foreign Affairs) were appointed in a Cabinet of 25, and 2 Deputy Ministers out of 20 constituting 8 per cent and 10 per cent female appointees respectively.

14.6.1.2 Furthermore, the Presidential and Parliamentary elections of 2002, also had a female Presidential candidate, and in the Cabinet of 21 Ministers appointed thereafter, 3 female Ministers emerged (Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Health and Sanitation and the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs) representing 14.3 per cent while Deputy Cabinet Ministers increased to 30per cent. This steady increase in women’s appointment at the Ministerial level is a further testimony of government’s commitment to the policy of equality and non-discrimination.

14.6.2 Parliament

14.6.2.1 The 1996 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, the first after 20 years of one party dictatorship and military rule, saw women winning five out of the eighty Parliamentary seats, indicative of 6.25 per cent female representation. By theParliamentary elections of 2002, 1,156,661 (49.61 per cent) of women were registered as voters as against 1,172,313 (50.32 per cent) men and from the election results, women won 18 out of the available 124 parliamentary seats which translates to 14.5 per cent representation. The Deputy Speaker of Parliament is a woman. Out of twenty-three (23) Parliamentary Committees in Parliament, six (6) of them are chaired by women; namely Agriculture and Food Security, Health and Sanitation, Education, Science and Technology, HIV/AIDS, Public Account and Information and Broadcasting. Of the successful female candidates, two were Paramount Chiefs.

14.6.3 Local Government.

14.6.3.1 For the Local Government elections of May 2004, 1,060521 women were registered constituting 47 per cent of the total number of registered voters. 107 women contested (9.6 per cent) and 52 were elected (11.18 per cent) as against 423 elected men. Of the 19 Councils, only one woman is serving as chair person while 2 are serving Deputy Chairpersons. Out of 149 paramount chieftaincy positions, 11 are women representing 7.4 per cent. As earlier discussed, the WDCs have a 50-50 gender composition.

14.6.3.2 Local Government Service Commission has been established and charged with the responsibility of recruiting staff in the Local Councils. The commission comprise eight (8) members, three (3) of whom are women.

Table 5. Showing percentage distribution of women at the Local Government level 2004.

Politics	Male	Female	Total	% Male	% Female
Councilors (2004)	423	52	475	89.1	10.9
Chairperson of Local Councils	18	01	19	94.7	5.3
Deputy Chairperson of Local Councils	17	02	19	89.5	10.5
Paramount Chiefs	138	11	149	92.6	7.4

Source: National Electoral Commission

14.6.4 Political Parties

14.6.4.1 There is currently no available sex disaggregated data on the percentage of women as members of political parties. The nature of participation of women in the work of political parties is mainly giving support to male folks and few aspire for leadership positions. As a temporary special measure all political parties agreed and adopted the “zipper system” in the 2002 Parliamentary elections it was expected that for every male candidate, a female candidate is slotted in the list.

14.6.4.2 Women are eligible to be candidates for elected positions on the same terms as men. However, for Paramount Chieftaincy positions, traditional and cultural practices pose barriers for women in certain parts of the country. Nomination for such positions is not under the purview of political parties but purely the ruling houses. At the moment tangible measures have not been put in place or adopted to increase the number of women standing as candidates under the political party’s ticket.

Table 6. Showing Number of Women Candidates on List of Political Parties in Sierra Leone

Political Party	Women	% Women	Men	% Men	Total
All Peoples Congress	22	10.43	189	89.57	211
Grand Alliance Party	15	17.86	69	82.14	84
Movement for Progress	05	16.67	25	78.13	30
National Democratic Alliance	03	9.38	29	90.62	32
Peoples Liberation Party	09	6.47	130	93.53	139
Peoples Democratic Party	29	13.94	179	86.1	208
Revolutionary United Front Party	19	9.84	174	90.16	193
Sierra Leone Peoples Party	30	13.45	193	86.55	223
United National Peoples Party	20	12.90	135	87.10	155
Young Peoples Party	07	9.86	64	90.14	71

Source: Compiled from list of Parliamentary Candidates Published in the 6 th May 2002 issue of the Sierra Leone Gazette.

14.7 Civil Service

14.7.1The 1988/89 Labour Force Survey reveals that only 17 per cent of persons employed in administrative and management positions of the civil service were women. Of the twenty-eight (28) Permanent Secretaries or equivalent rank positions, there were only four (4) women equivalent to 14.2 per cent.

14.7.2 The 2005 Administrative Posting indicates that there are only two (2) women serving as Permanent Secretaries out of 21 positions representing 9.5 per cent, while, the current Chief Administrator of the Freetown City Council and Kono District Council are women.

14 .8 Membership in Labour and Professional Organizations

14.8.1The proportion of women holding decision making positions in labour and professional organizations is captured below:

Table 7. Female Participation in Decision-making, Labour and Professional Organizations

	Male	Female	Total	%male	%female
a) Labour Congress
i) Executive	40	10	50	80	20
b) Sierra Leone Teachers Union
i) Executive	25	15	40	62.5	37.5
c) Bar Association
i) Supervisor and above	5	2	7	71.43	28.57
d) Pharmacy Board
i) Supervisor and above	10	6	16	62.50	37.50
e) Dental Association
i) Supervisor and above	42	31	73	57.53	42.47
Civil Service Supervisors to Permanent Secretaries	56	6	62	90.32	9.68

CEDAW field survey 2005

14.8.2The very low representation of women in the Labour and Bar Association is not unrelated to the small number of women who are eligible to become members of these organizations.

14.9 Commissions

14.9.1Few women have been appointed to serve as Heads in various Commissions and Institutions set up by Government. It is however noteworthy that women have been appointed as chief executives of critical national institutions such as:

The Chairperson of the National Electoral Commission (NEC);

The Chief Immigration Officer;

The Secretary, Public Service Commission;

The Executive Secretary, National Commission for War Affected Children (NACWAC);

Independent Media Commission.

The National Commission for Democracy (NCD) has four (4) Commissioners, two (2) of whom are women. The National Commission for Human Rights has five (5) Commissioners, two (2) of whom are women. The National Electoral Commission has five (5) Commissioners, two (2) of whom are women including the Chief Electoral Commissioner.

14.9.2Although these appointments are recent, they demonstrate the confidence that government reposes in women at high levels of decision-making.

14.10Judiciary

14.10.1 Until 2005, few women held decision-making positions in the judicial system of the country. Presently, out of the 23 appointed judges there are 7 females accounting for about 30.4 per cent of the total while 2 of the existing 19 magistrates are females. The Master and Registrar of the High Court of Sierra Leone is a woman however, at no time has a woman been appointed as a substantive Chief Justice of the Republic of Sierra Leone. Most of the women found working in the judiciary department are clerical staff that cannot influence decision-making.

Table 8.Percentage distribution of Women in Decision-making positions in the Judiciary 2005

Judiciary	Male	Female	Total	% Male	% Female
Judges	16	07	23	69.6	30.4
Magistrates	17	02	19	89.5	10.5

Source: Office of Master and Registrar

14.11 Non Governmental Organization Participation in Public and Political life

14.11.1 Women have been playing crucial role in the activities of NGO’s as coordinators and beneficiaries.According to 2005 NGO Registration report, there are 258 registered NGOs (Both International and Local). There are 175 national NGOs and 21.71 per cent are headed by Sierra Leonean women. Out of the 83 International NGOs 8.43 per cent are headed by Sierra Leonean women. Their activities are focused `on the development of human and women’s rights, women’s health, education and activities such as research, provision of micro-credit, shelters, non-formal education, such as vocational skills training, advocacy and sensitization on Human Rights and capacity building.

14.11.2 Women do participate in trade unions; statistics on their level of involvement and those holding decision-making positions are however not recorded. Reports have not shown any woman being discriminated against or subject to human rights violations because of her political activities or as a member of women’s organizations. Women’s Organizations are actively involved in policy-making in Sierra Leone. For instance Women’s Organizations were involved in the development of the National Policies for the Advancement of Women and Gender Mainstreaming and the preparation of the country’s PRSP. The mechanisms put in place to ensure their involvement is through collaborative meetings, advocacy drives, networking etc.

14.11.3 In pursuit of local aspirations for affirmative action in support of women, the 50/50 Group was formed in November 2000, with the sole objective of empowering women, and enabling their equitable and effective participation in politics. The group is also involved in lobbying government and political parties for the adoption of conditions that would encourage and enable women to participate in politics. To this effect they advocated for the ‘zipper system’ in the 2002 elections whereby for every male candidate, a female candidate is also adopted by the party. The group lobbied the political parties for the reservation of at least 30 per cent of political seats for women during the 2002 Parliamentary and 2004 Local Government elections which have been raised to 50 per cent for the forthcoming 2007 elections.

15 A rticle 8: I nternational R epresentation and P articipation

15.1Provisions for Access to International Organization

15.1.1The 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone guarantees every Sierra Leonean the opportunity to represent the country on a basis of merit at the international level and participate in the work of international organizations. Sierra Leonean women have worked as professional staff in international organizations such as the ECA, ECOWAS, International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Industrial Organization (UNIDO), UNIFEM and the United Nations Secretariat.

15.2 Women are ensured equal right to participate and represent their country in international debates, talks, forums and conferences however observations are that women’s participation reflect expertise largely in areas such as Gender Issues, Nursing, Education, Banking, Fine Arts and PeaceBuilding. This often tends to highlight the stereotypical nature of women’s career and professional choices.

15.3Sierra Leone’s delegations to international conferences often include women especially those who are conversant with the workings of the institutions or issues that are to be discussed. Some women have also acted as heads of delegations to international conferences. In fact women were part of the delegation to the Lome Peace Accord in Togo, which yielded the peace the country is enjoying currently.

15.4 Women are encouraged to enter the Foreign Services or to apply for positions in the international bureaucracy. Family commitments especially for married women make it very difficult to accept diplomatic and international jobs outside the home country. This is indeed an obstacle in the advancement of women in Sierra Leone in diplomatic and international organizations conditions of service in the Foreign Service is the same for both men and women.

15.5 In the Foreign Service as at 2006 only two (2) women are serving as Ambassadors accredited to Iran and Russian Federation respectively out of Twenty-two (22) Ambassadorial positions while four (4) others are serving as Heads of Chancery out of sixteen (16) positions. Prior to 1996, Sierra Leonean women served as Ambassadors with multiple accreditations in Eastern and Southern Africa, Europe, the United Nations and Guinea. Women have the same right as their male counterparts with respect to filling diplomatic posts once vacancies exist. No woman has been denied the opportunity to represent Sierra Leone or to participate in the work of international organizations on the basis of sex.

Table 9. Illustrates Women’s Representation at the International Level among

Diplomats/Foreign Service Officers (1990-1994)

Personnel on International Postings and Positions	1990	1994
Total	M	F	% M	% F	Total	M	F	%M	%F
Foreign Service at post	30	22	8	73.3	26.7	30	20	10	66.7	33.3
Foreign Service Officers at Headquarters	25	20	5	80.0	20.0	25	20	5	80.0	20.0
Diplomats (Ambassadors)	14	12	2	85.7	14.3	14	13	1	92.8	7.2
Head of Chancery	14	14	-	100	-	14	13	1	92.8	7.2
Directors	6	6	-	100	-	6	5	1	83.3	16.7
Protocol Officers	6	6	-	100	-	6	5	1	83.3	16.7

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

Table 10. Illustrates Women’s Representation at the International Level among Diplomats/Foreign Service Officers (1998-2002)

Personnel on Int’l Postings and Positions	1998	2002
Tot	M	F	% M	% F	Tot	M	F	%M	%F
Personnel in Foreign Service	32	20	12	62.5	37.5	40	30	10	7.5	2.5
No of Foreign Service Officers at Headquarters	27	21	6	77.8	22.2	33	26	7	78.8	21.2
Diplomats (Ambassadors and Deputies)	18	16	2	88.8	11.2	22	20	2	99.0	1.0
Head of Chancery	16	14	2	87.3	12.7	16	13	3	86.2	18.7
Directors	6	5	1	83.3	16.7	7	5	2	71.4	28.6
Protocol Officers	6	5	1	83.3	16.7	8	7	1	87.5	12.5

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

M – Male; F – Female; Tot – Total

Table 11 . Diplomats/Foreign Service Officers (2006)

Personnel	Total	Male	Female	% Male	% Female
Personnel in Foreign Service at post	40	30	10	7.5	2.5
No. of Foreign Service Officers at Headquarters	33	26	7	78.8	21.2
Diplomats (Ambassadors and Deputies)	22	20	2	99.0	1.0
Head of Chancery	16	13	3	86.2	18
Directors	10	9	1	90.1	10.0
Protocol Officers	4	3	1	75.0	25.0

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

16 A rticle 9: N ationality

16.1 Constitution and Nationality

16.1.1 The law/ statute governing citizenship in Sierra Leone is the Sierra LeoneCitizenship Act of 1973. Section 2 of the Act states:

“Every person who, having been born in Sierra Leone before the nineteenth day of April, 1971, or who was resident in Sierra Leone on the eighteenth day of April, 1971, and not the subject of any other State shall, on the nineteenth day of April, 1971, be deemed to be a citizen of Sierra Leone by birth”

Provided that –

a)his father or his grandfather was born in Sierra Leone; and

b)he is a person of negro African descent

16.1.2In principle, the Constitution discriminates against women with respect to the right to transmit citizenship directly to their children. Section 6 of the Act provides that for a woman to transmit citizenship to her children, she must be a citizen of Sierra Leone, not just born in Sierra Leone. Thus, a person with a Sierra Leonean mother and a foreign father cannot claim sierra Leonean citizenship even if that person is born in Sierra Leone.

16.1.3In addition, section 7 of the Act provides that female foreigners can acquire Sierra Leonean citizenship by naturalization through marriage to a Sierra Leonean male. On the contrary, there is no corresponding requirement for male foreigners to acquire sierra Leonean citizenship by naturalization on account of marriage to a Sierra Leonean woman. In principle therefore, only male sierra Leonean can transmit Sierra Leonean citizenship to their foreign wives, Sierra Leonean women cannot do likewise(transmit citizenship to their foreign husbands).

16.1.4Immigration regulations provide that all sierra Leonean including minors are issued traveling documents before traveling out of the country. There is a legal requirement for parents to give their consent before passports are issued to minors. Either parent can give his approval before a passport is issue to a minor.

16.2 On-going efforts: The Law Reform Commission is in the process of reviewing the 1973 Citizenship Act to allow for dual citizenship, among other provisions, and it is anticipated that the legal discrepancies will be resolved in the revised laws.

16.2.1 Sierra Leone 's Parliament has approved a measure legalizing dual citizenship. The citizenship Act of 1973 has been amended which states that no person shall have Sierra Leonean citizenship and any other citizenship at one and the same time. The amended act means that Sierra Leoneans holding citizenship of another country and who by birth or by descent are Sierra Leonean are now eligible for Sierra Leonean citizenship.

16.2.2 Birth Registration that accords people citizenship right is mostly done in the urban areas for women who deliver in the health centres. However, women who give birth to children through the Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) rarely record their children’s birth dates officially.

17 A rticle 10: E quality of A ccess to E ducation

17.1Legal Measures/ Constitutional Directive on Equal Rights to Education

17.1.1 Chapter II, Section 9(1) and 9(2) (a) of the 1991 Constitution provides for gender equality in education and outlines state directives that secure women’s rights to equitable access to and benefit from education.

17.2 Education Act 2004

17.2.1 To further concretize this constitutional guarantee, an Education Act was passed by Parliament to serve as the linchpin of efforts to achieve the numerous policies and initiatives including the global Education for All (EFA) targets by 2015. The Act makes Basic Education compulsory and stipulates punitive measures for deterrents and reaffirms the specific concerns of the EFA goals 4 and 5 to increasing enrolment and eliminating gender disparity in education for girls and women.

17.3 Policy Instruments/Measures

17.3.1 Non – Formal Primary Education Programme (NPFE)

In 1992, the government in close collaboration with UNICEF and the Ministry of Development and Economic Planning (MODEP) established the Non- Formal Education Programme. The initiative included gender sensitive measures targeting school age girls, of 14years and above, in peri-urban communities and remote villages with little or no formal schools. Features and incentives included free tuition, placement/enrolment in schools with close proximity to pupils’ homes, flexible and shorter school hours. These encouraged communities to release girls who are typically engaged in household chores and street hawking, to attend these less conventional schools.

17.4 National Education Policy (NEP) 1995

17.4.1To consolidate on the gains of the Non Formal Education (NFE), a new education policy was adopted in 1995. The thrust of the policy introduced a nine year “Basic Education System” which allowed for a wider range of subjects to broaden options for accessing tertiary education either along the polytechnic or university stream. Cognizant of the existing drive to achieving gender parity and meeting the education needs of all, the policy outlined the under-stated gender objectives:

To increase enrolment, retention and graduation rates at all levels, projecting a minimum graduation target of 70% for girls at Basic Education level and the achievement of 30% female literacy by 2000. To take necessary action to promote cultural, social and attitudinal change in favour of female advancement through education. Steady progress towards attaining these targets are being achieved as highlighted in subsequent sections of the report.

17.5In pursuance of the NEP, government took several steps viz:

Development of a Basic Education National Action Plan (BENAP). Under the coordination of the Basic Education Commission, this five year plan (1995-2000), served as the framework and template for expanding quality basic education facilities for all children (aged 6-9 years) irrespective of sex. It specifically targeted increased enrolment for girls and women.

Introduction of the National Education Master Plan (NEMP) 1997 – 2006. In addition to its focus on eliminating gender disparity in education, enshrined in the plan, were special measures and deliberate strategies to promote girl child education, which have yielded positive results to date.

Re-introduction of the National Action Plan (NAP). To accelerate national progress towards the Global EFA and achieve projected in the 2003-2015 timeframe. The plan reaffirmed commitment to free and compulsory education for all (girls inclusive) at Basic Education level as and promotion of counseling and family life education as a strategy for preventing early pregnancy.

17.6 Other Measures

17.6.1To complement the education policy and plans, other supportive measures introduced include:

Introduction of the flexible 6-3-3-4 system of education in 1993. This was geared towards expanding the pool of middle level human power resources needed for national development and strengthening Technical and Vocational education in Sierra Leone. As a result there are about 240 Technical/Vocational Centers/Institutions in the country (SABABU) Education MEST, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ-SL) from a 2004 Statistics Sierra Leone, survey.

Introduction of fee–free examinations by government at the basic and secondary levels in 2000. This contributed to increased retention and completion rates among girls and boys.

Adoption of the twin gender policies- the National Policy on Gender Mainstreaming (NPGM) and National Policy on the Advancement of Women (NPAW) in 2001. These policies re-affirm women’s rights to education at all levels, in both academic and technical fields; the right to choose any field of specialization and study the same curriculum as men.

17.6.2 The Rapid Education Programme for Primary Schools tagged Complementary Rapid Education for Primary Schools (CREPS).

17.6.2.1 This was a post war scheme adopted in 2002 as a catalytic measure for granting primary school access to war affected children aged 10-15 years, whose schooling had been disrupted or had never attended school. CREPS as a bridge system condensed the 6 year primary education to three (3) years and allowed beneficiaries opportunity for rejoining the formal school system upon graduation. Reported enrolment in the CREPS programme by 2004 was 30,785,000 of whom about 40% were girls.

i)Specific elements within theSierra Leone PRSP of 2005 serve as vehicles for the delivery of CEDAW article 10. Pillar 3, promoting human development focuses on expansion of quality basic education infrastructure and reinforces the ongoing actions on women’s education. It sets out to meet full financial cost of girls’ education at the JSS level in the Northern and Eastern Region, train young female teachers and assigns the monitoring and supervision of education to local councils in accordance with the 2004 Local Government Act.

ii)Increased partnership between UN Agencies, Civil Society Organizations, Faith Based and Private Institutions with Government and State institutions in the execution of initiatives which complement directly or indirectly, efforts for actualizing CEDAW provisions. Foremost amongst these national level education stakeholders, are women’s organizations like Young Women Christian Association (YWCA), Sierra Leone Association of University Women (SLAUW) and Forum for African Women Educationalist (FAWE). A popular Krio jingle, ‘Sen you girl pikin na school’ translated – ‘send your girl child to school’ was produced and popularized by the Sierra Leone Chapter of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) in partnership with UNICEF. This media advocacy has contributed in no small measure to changing negative mind-sets and attitudes among large number of parents in impoverished peri-urban and rural communities, who continue to avail their girl children of opportunities for basic education.

iii)Instituting award, prizes and scholarships for girls who excel at primary and tertiary level, by women’s organizations, introduction of school feeding programmes and Girl-Retention Incentive Scheme by the WFP and MEST in seven districts have also served as motivating factors to encourage girls to stay in school.

17.7 Actual Progress

17.7.1 Primary Level

17.7.1.1 As a direct outcome of government intervention in education, enrolment rates is more than doubled for girls within the reporting period with the most significant progress recorded between 2001-2005. Rehabilitation and reconstruction of schools coupled with resettlement of displaced persons were also contributory factors to the gains recorded. The seeming decline in percentage enrolment of boys seems to be a reflection of the increased percentage of girls in overall enrolment as absolute number of boys enrolled continues to also increase steadily and more than doubled by 2005. However the decreasing percentage of boys enrolled need to be critically reviewed.

Table 12. Primary School Enrolment 2001/2002 to 2004/2005

Year	Enrolment
Male	Percentage	Female	Percentage	Total
2001/2002	323,924	57.9	230,384	42.1	100(559,308)
2002/2003	518,801	57.3	386,515	42.7	100(905,316)
2003/2004	625,726	56.2	488,320	43.8	100(1,114,046)
2004/2005	709,869	55.0	581,386	45.0	100(1,291,255)

Source: MEST Inspectorate Division

Figure 2: Primary School Enrolment by Sex 2001/2002 to 2004/20050102030405060702001/20022002/20032003/20042004/2005Year Male Female

Table 13. Achievements of GoSL/ UNICEF Interventions in Education 2002 & 2004

No.	Education Target	Achievements
		2002	2004
		%M	%F	%M	%F
1	Enrolment of 55,000 children in Formal primary education	60.9	39.1	N/A	N/A
2	25,000 children to re-enter School through CREPS.	60.8	40.2	N/A	N/A
3	Increase GER by 5% in targeted Districts (Koinadugu, Bombali and Kono)	N/A	N/A	58.6	41.4
4	Enrolment of 30,000 children in Formal primary education	N/A	N/A	51.2	48.8
5	Enrolment of 27,500 to re-enter school through CREPS	N/A	N/A	59.3	40.4
6	Provide training for 1,250 teachers	N/A	N/A	96.0	4.0
7	Improve quality education and increase Retention and completion	N/A	N/A	46.9	53.1

Source: (i) UNICEF, 2004 (ii) UNICEF, Education Section report 2005

Year Figure 3: Gross Enrolment Rates for Primary by Sex, 1991/1992 to 2002/20030204060801001201401601801991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003 Male Female OverallPERCENTAGEGES

Table 14. Percentage of Graduates in the National Primary School Examination

Year	Males	Females	Cut off Pass M arks
Sat	Passed	% Passed	Sat	Passed	% Passed
2000	11,948	11,099	92.9	8,241	7,583	92.0	200.0
2001	15,884	12,736	80.2	10,263	7,974	77.7	220.0
2002	21,629	17,930	82.9	13,303	10,252	77.1	220.0
2003	29,825	24,235	81.3	17,026	12,882	75.7	220.0
2004	38,703	31,080	80.3	22,445	16,997	75.7	220.0
2005	48,204	35,776	74.2	29,452	20,062	68.1	230.0

Source: West African Examination Council, Freetown .

17. 7 . 2Secondary level

17. 7. 2.1Similar to the primary level, steady increase in percentage of girls enrolled in secondary school, were witnessed although increases recorded were not as dramatic as indicated in the table below.

Table 15. Distribution of Pupils Enrolled in Secondary School, 1986/1987 to 2004/2005

Year	Enrolment
Male	Percentage	Female	Percentage	Total
1986/1987	67707	66.6	33980	33.4	100(101,687)
1987/1988	72665	71.9	28,384	28.1	100(101,049)
1988/1989	64,084	66.6	32,100	33.4	100(96,184)
1989/1990	63672	65.8	33,137	34.2	100(96,809)
1990/1991	62,190	64.1	34859	35.9	100(97,049)
1991 to 2000	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
2000/2001	61731	61.6	38,546	38.4	100(100,277)
2001/2002	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
2002/2003	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
2003/2004	112,243	61.1	71,423	38.9	100(183,666)
2004/2005	121,097	60.9	77,597	39.1	100(198,694)

Source: MEST Inspectorate Office, 2005

Table 16. Percentage of Graduates in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (JSS)

Year	Male	Female
Sat to Exams	% Passed	Sat to Exams	% Passed
2000	11,241	56.8	7,123	36.4
2001	11,983	51.8	7,443	43.1
2002	15,497	49.3	8,912	34.6
2003	18,746	49.9	10,897	37.8
2004	20,611	46.2	11,537	36.9
2005	24,218	36.2	13,537	42.3

Source: West African Examination Council, Freetown .

17. 7. 3 Technical and Vocational Education Level

17. 7. 3.1 About 29,000 full time students and 4,000 non-formal livelihood skills trainees enrolled in 2004. Open to both female and male students, observed trends were a preference for Secretarial Studies Programme teaching English, Typing, Shorthand and Computing among females. Male students on the other hand, had a preference for Accounting and Finance, Marketing, Business Administration and Computing. Courses offered in the non-formal sector were usually Tailoring, Soap Making, Gara tie-dying; Hair dressing and Catering were found to be very popular among females. Entry requirements for the non-formal courses are opened to non-literates and the curricula are usually not standardized neither are they influenced by industry/job requirement/specification. The qualifications and experiences of teachers in such programmes, the number of male and female teachers teaching those courses cannot be ascertained as there are no available data.

Table 17. Enrolment of Trainees in Technical/Vocational Institutions by District

	Enrolled Trainees
	Formal	Non-Formal
	Male	%M	Female	%F	Total	Male	%M	Female	%F	Total
Kailahun	274		496		770	0		381		381
Kenema	1,098		1,973		3,071	293		439		732
Kono	135		311		446	112		197		309
Bombali	2,389		1,325		3,714	183		304		487
Kambia	133		202		335	10		45		55
Koinadugu	51		81		132	40		30		70
Port Loko	629		776		1405	13		136		149
Tonkolili	715		829		1544	43		193		236
Bo	2,339		3,297		5,636	768		946		1714
Bonthe	142		97		239	5		16		21
Moyamba	232		412		644	10		40		50
Pujehun	419		285		704	83		86		169
W. Rural	198		611		809	126		173		299
W. Urban	2,749		6,362		9,111	587		1,104		1691
S. Leone	11,503		17,057		28,560	2,273		4,090		6,363

Source: SABABU Education Project, GTZ Sierra Leone , Statistics Sierra Leone Report on the Status of Technical and Vocational Education in Sierra Leone , MEST, December 2005.

17. 7. 4 Tertiary Level

17. 7. 4.1 Access to university education is opened to persons who pass with a minimum of five credits at the General Certificate of Examination (GCE) Ordinary Level Examination or the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), both of which are conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).As indicated in the preceding section on secondary education, the enrolment of boys at that level far outweighs that of girls. In addition, at least 20 per cent of girls enrolled drop out before completion at this level due largely to teenage pregnancy, high tertiary fees and poverty are the most common (Sierra Leone CEDAW Survey, 2005). Pass rates for examination candidates are also far lower for girls than for boys.

17. 7. 5 Enrolment at FourahBayCollege

From Table18 below, only an average of one in five women enrolled for university education during the period 1980 to 1986.

Table 18. Full Time Students Enrolled at Fourah Bay College

Year	Male	Percentage	Female	Percentage	Total
1980/1981	350	75.6	112	24.4	462(100)
1981/1982	NA	-	NA	-	-
1982/1983	329	75.6	106	24.4	435(100)
1983/1984	264	75.6	85	24.4	349(100)
1984/1985	306	83.4	65	16.6	371(100)
1985/1986	NA	-	NA.	-	-
1987/1995	NA		NA
1996/1998×	1093	77.5	317	22.5	1410(100)
1998/1999	1243	81.7	279	18.3	1522(100)
1999/2000	1269	80.9	299	19.8	1568(100)
2000/2001	1460	82.2	316	17.8	1776(100)
2001/2002	1723	83.0	350	17.0	2075(100)
2002/2003	1793	81.4	409	18.6	2202(100)
2003/2004	1950	80.0	487	20.0	2437(100)

FourahBayCollege Statistical File; SL Government: Annual Statistical Digest, Central Statistics Office,1992

Extended Year due to instability

Table 19. Percentage Distribution of Students by Faculty by Sex, 1990/91-1996/98 and 2003/04

Year	Arts	Social Sciences & Law	Engineering	Pure &Applied Sciences
Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
1990/19	68.8	31.2	84.2	15.8	97.2	2.8	81.0	19.0
1991/96	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
1996/98×	75.5	24.5	83.6	18.4	94.6	5.4	90.9	9.1
1999/00	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
2000/01	75.8	24.2	88.1	11.9	95.3	4.7	88.7	11.3
2001/02	77.7	22.3	83.1	16.9	95.1	4.9	85.9	14.1
2002/03	86.3	13.7	81.5	18.5	95.7	4.3	76.0	24.7
2003/04	75.4	24.6	81.5	18.5	92.5	7.2	78.3	21.7

Source: Fourah Bay College Statistical File

17. 7. 5.1 Introduction of an Access Programme that provides remedial courses in the sciences for candidates who fail to meet the minimum entry requirements for admission to the degree programme, accounts for the increased enrolment of females for Pure and Applied Sciences from 14.1 per cent to 24.0 per cent in the 2001/2002 and 2003/2004 academic sessions.

17. 7. 6 Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM)

Table 20 . Percentage Distribution of Students Admitted at IPAM by Sex

Year	Male (%)	Female (%)	Total
2002/2003	60.8	39.2	100 (378)
2003/2004	67.9	32.1	100 (480)
2004/2005	66.8	33.2	100 (440)
2005/2006	70.7	29.3	100 (662)

Source: IPAM Registry

Table 21 . Percentage Distribution of Students Admitted at IPAM by Level by Sex

Year	Post graduate	Degree	Diploma	Certificate
M	F	Total	M	F	T	M	F	T	M	F	T
2002/03	78.1	21.9	100 (32)	61.4	38.6	100 (145)	68.1	31.9	100 (144)	40.0	60.0	100 (35)
2003/04	77.5	22.5	100 (71)	66.7	33.3	100 (162)	72.7	27.3	100 (194)	43.2	56.8	100 (37)
2004/05	83.3	16.7	100 (60)	67.7	32.3	100 (186)	66.7	33.3	100 (126)	58.9	41.1	100 (56)
2005/06	83.8	16.2	100 (80)	67.4	32.6	100 (227)	75.6	24.4	100 (242)	57.1	42.9	100 (112)

Source: IPAM Registry

17. 7. 6.1 Reportedly the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators indicates a higher percentage of females relative to males. This can be explained by stereotypes in choice of career which dictates that secretarial duties are for women while managerial duties are reserved for men.

17.7 .7 Njala University College and College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS)

17. 7. 7.1As evident in Tables 22.0, below, males dominate in all faculties, except the Basic Medical Services (Table 23.0), where 52.7 per cent of students are females. This is attributed to female preference for the biological aspects of the clinical sciences compared to hard core science subjects like chemistry and physics, which are the major requirements for admission to the Clinical Sciences.

Table 22 . Percentage Distribution of Students admitted at Njala University College

Faculty	Male	Female	Total
Agriculture	85.4	14.6	100 (274)
Education	89.0	11	100 (455)

Source: University Secretariat 2003

Table 23.Percentage Distribution of Students admitted at COMAHS

Faculty	Male	Female	Total
Clinical Services	87.5	12.5	100 (8)
Basic Medical Services	47.2	52.7	100 (36)

Source: University Secretariat 2003

17. 7. 8 TeacherColleges and Polytechnics

Table 24. Percentage Distribution of Students Enrolment at MMCET Campus by Sex

2004/2005

Campus	Male	Female
Goderich	59.0	41.0
Congo Cross	65.0	35.0
Brookfields	10.7	89.3
Total	57.6	42.4

Milton Margai College Of Education And Technology (MMCET) Registry 2005

17. 7. 9 Special Needs Schools

17. 7. 9.1 A number of schools exist around the country to cater for the educational needs of physically challenged persons. Special provisions are available for physically impaired, and mentally retarded to access educational facilities. For example, there are six (6) schools for the Blind nationwide. Five (5) of these are located in the different districts across the country and the one in Freetown was established fifty (50) years ago. At the secondary and tertiary level, however, blind people access education in the same environment as other students. Admission into special needs school is open to both boys and girls but only a limited number of girls are enrolled in each of these schools. At the BombaliBlindSchool, seven (7) out of the eighteen (18) inmates are girls and the ratio is similar in Freetown. It was noted that for cultural reasons, parents prefer to keep physically challenged girls at home presumably for special care and protection.

Table 25. Adult Literacy Rate in Sierra Leone

Year	1985	1995	2004
Overall Adult (Age 15+ Literacy Rate %	13	21	49
Female	09	10	29
Male	17	32	39

Source: UNESCO Statistical Year Books; 1980 – 1992, 1985 and 2004 Census Report.

17. 7. 9.2 The overall Adult Literacy rate disaggregated by sex as depicted above is very low. Although figures obtained from the 2004 Census indicate dramatic increase in the literacy rate of females which increased from 10 per cent in 1995 to 29 per cent, additional input is still required to close the gap in literacy between males and females.

17. 7. 10 Career Guidance

17. 7. 10.1 For the successful implementation of the 6-3-3-4, the Guidance and Counseling Department of the Milton Margai College of Education and Technology (MMCET) was established. According to the new Education Policy of 1995, “the Guidance and Counseling Unit shall be the school’s mechanism for ensuring that no area lags behind during the students programme”. As such over two hundred Educational Guidance Counselors have been trained to assist in career, guidance by preventing the squeezing of round pegs into square holes and to contribute meaningfully towards the holistic development of pupils. This has helped women and girls tremendously as it is now common to see women entering into the fields of traditional male domain areas like Engineering, Medicine and perhaps Agriculture. Girls and boys are not equally represented in the different branches, streams or tracks simply because the enrolment rates differ. Currently women and girls encouraged pursuing sciences, Engineering, Agriculture and Medicine etc and preferences are given to them in the award of grants or scholarships and job opportunities to women who pursue such courses.

17. 7. 11 Access to Grants or Scholarships

17. 7. 11.1 The grants or scholarship available is known as the Sierra Leone Government Grant-in-Aid and it is available to both males and females. In fact preference is given to women and girls who study disciplines that were regarded as male domain such as Agriculture, Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine etc. At the moment there is no available data on the quota system to men and women as this is tied up to the amount of applicants in the various disciplines. Women and girls have equal opportunities to compete for grants or scholarships in the country.

17. 7. 11.2 There are grants or scholarships available solely for women and girls. The government of Sierra Leone with support from partners initiated and is currently funding the girl-child education scheme. This project provides full scholarship to all girls who enter JuniorSecondary School in the Eastern and Northern Regions of the country. The percentages of girls benefiting from such scheme are not recorded as it keeps fluctuating. Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) also give awards to girls who excel in public Examinations.

17. 7. 12 Participation in Sports and Physical Education in Schools

17. 7. 12.1 Women and girls have equal opportunities as men and boys to participate in sports and physical education in schools. There is no discrimination neither are there regulations that prohibit women and girls from participating in sports and Physical education in schools and other institutions of higher learning. There are no feasible barriers be it political, social and cultural in preventing women and girl’s participation in sports and physical education in educational institutions in Sierra Leone. In fact the ex-head of department of Physical Health Education in NjalaUniversityCollege was a woman who served as mentor for other women and girls. Today it is common to see girls and women studying physical health education in schools and tertiary education levels. Most of the medals, bronze and silver won by Sierra Leone are from women and girls.

18Article 11: Equal Rights to Employmentand Employment Opportunities

18.1 According to the 1998, Sierra Leone’s Human development report, women accounted fro 40.5 per cent of the clerical cadre in the formal sector employment and only 8 per cent of the administrative and management cadre. The sectors in which women are commonly employed are agriculture where they constitute 55 per cent of the labour force. In the professional technical and managerial/administrative categories the gap between men and women is even wider. Generally women have little access to non-traditional employment: although increasing the proportion of women in wage employment in the non agricultural was only 7.5 per cent in 2001 up from 6.4 per cent the previous year. To date employees in the non- agricultural sector largely comprise men.

18.2Tax laws and employment benefits often do not discriminate against women. Little support is given for child care to working women. In addition more than three (3) sets of laws: customary, religious, and common/civil laws determine issues which govern women’s lives and yet most of them are contradictory and impinges on women’s reproductive and productive lives.

18.3In the informal sector where women predominates, they are not covered by any law and the main activities include soap making, tie dying and petty trade, generally the reward is low. Even in farming where women are engaged mainly food production (subsistence farming) cash returns are much lower than that for cash crops where men dominate.

18.4Legal and Other Measures

18.4.1Sierra Leone ratified the ILO Convention 100 on Equal Remuneration in 1968 and convention 111 on Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) in 1966.

18.4.2 The 1991 Constitution grants equal rights of employment to men and women however no national labour policy has been formulated which will promote equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation and that no national legal instrument exists which provides effective protection against discrimination in employment.

18.4.3The 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone guarantees every Sierra Leonean equal right to employment.

Section 8 subsections 3a, c & e of the 1991 Constitution requires the state to direct its policy towards ensuring that:

Every citizen, without discrimination on any grounds whatsoever shall have the opportunity for securing adequate means of livelihood as well as adequate opportunities to secure suitable employment.

The health, safety and welfare of all persons in employment are safe guarded and not endangered or abused and in particular a special provision be made for working women with children having due regard to the resources of the state.

There is equal pay for equal work without discrimination on account of sex and that adequate and satisfactory remuneration is paid to all persons in employment.

18.4.4This constitutional provision guarantees equal rights for both women and men to free choice of profession and employment. Besides these constitutional provisions, Government has adopted other labour regulations to ensure that women enjoy their rights to employment on a basis of equality with men. One of such is The National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) Act which has resulted in the establishment of a social security scheme that guarantees the rights of employees to social security, particularly in cases of retirement, sickness, invalidity and old age and other incapacity to work. However, the Trust only covers paid employees. It does not make any provisions for non-remunerative and informal sector work, where women are predominantly engaged. Special measures to mobilize women to join as contributors in order to enable them benefit equitably from this social safety net are grossly lacking.

18.5Institutional Mechanism

18.5.1 There is a Ministry of Labour and Industrial relations established among other things to handle all Labour and employment issues and ensuring compliance with all Labour laws in both public and private spheres.

18.6Actual progress made to ensure the elimination of discrimination against Women in employment

18.6.1To complement available constitutional and other provisions the National Policy for the Advancement of Women was adopted in 2001. The policy guarantees inter alia:

right of women to work at any level of government, from the village level to the central level

right to equal job opportunities, payment, promotion, appointments and training.

18.6.2 Free choice of employment; equal criteria for promotion and benefits, including retraining

18.6.2.1 Women freely choose their professions based on their qualifications and experience. Some of these professions which are predominately filled by women include: nursing, hairdressing, teaching, catering etc. By custom, a Sierra Leonean woman’s husband will not accompany his wife when she is sent on transfer. This prohibits women from taking up jobs that involve moving from one station to another at frequent intervals. Criteria for women and men for promotions, job security and all benefits and conditions of services are the same.

18.6.3Equal Pay, benefits and equal evaluation of work

18.6.3.1 There is equal pay benefitfor all work done by men and women in the same job. Similarly, all work related benefits including non-monetary are the same. In government and private Institutions the criteria are the same. However, work done by women in the home is not recognized as part of the work done in the labour force. Interestingly enough, women themselves who perform these chores at home do not know that the domestic chores they perform are work that is of value to the survival of the home. There is however no studies to calculate the value of work done by women in the non-monetized sector including agriculture work, domestic work, child care, elderly care, family education and health care.

18.6.4 Social Security and other benefits

18.6.4.1 The NASSIT Act of 2005 provides for social security benefits to contributors to the scheme. However section 45(1) provides that 40 per cent of insured person’s pension is payable to a widow or widower. However it is not applicable in the informal sector where majority of the women find themselves.

18.6.4.2 Retirement benefit is enjoyed by working women and men based on the salary scale at retirement. The National Social Security Trust (NASSIT) has the responsibility of paying the benefits to contributing workers.

18.6.4.3 Women work in family owned businesses but there are no measures to ensure that these women enjoy work related benefits like other women in non-family businesses. Besides there are no statistics on women who work without pay and other work related benefits. Women who are denied these benefits have nowhere to turn to.

18.6.5 Prohibition of discrimination or dismissal on the grounds of pregnancy, maternity leave or marital status

18.6.5.1 Women who are pregnant on the job are not dismissed and those who are granted maternity leave resume after the expiration of their maternal leave or if they are not able to return on the agreed time for any reason, they write to ask for extension of leave. Even in the privately owned businesses, women enjoy their rights to maternity leave. A woman is granted maternity leave without maternity pay or benefits.

18.6.5.2 There is a net work of child care facilities though they are limited and are privately owned. Day care and nursery schools serve as child care facilities. These are so expensive hence not within the reach of most working women and are usually concentrated in the urban area. These centers have a mixture of trained and untrained personnel. These facilities are available to all those who can afford the cost. The state does not provide social services or financial support to parents in a bid to balance their work with family responsibilities and equally contribute to public life. There is most times the tendency for parents to remove their older children (especially girls) from school to take care of their younger siblings.

18.6.6Health and Safety in working conditions

18.6.6.1 The Government sets health and safetystandards but the standards are outmoded and often not enforced. The health and safety division of the department of labour has an inspection and enforcement responsibility but inadequate funding and transportation limits its effectiveness. The Sierra Leone Labour Congress is currently negotiating with the government to update these standards.

18.6.6.2 Health and safety regulations are included in collective bargaining agreement but there is no evidence of systematic enforcement of those safety standards. Trade unions provide protection for workers who file complaints about working conditions. Initially, the unions make a formal complaint about the hazardous work conditions, if the complaint is rejected the Unions may issue a 21 day strike notice. If workers remove themselves from dangerous work situation without making formal complaints, they risk being fired. Sexual harassment of women exists in most work places and there is no government policy to protect women from such act. The sexual violence Act 2004 is silent on sexual harassment of women in the work place.

18.7 Obstacles to Combating Discriminatory Employment Practices and Stereotypes

18.7.1 There are no dejure discriminatory practices inhibiting women’s access to employment opportunities and benefits. However, there are subtle discriminatory practices rooted in traditional biases and prejudices which either derive from or result in low levels of education, heavy burden of domestic work, inadequate training, and exposure and job experience for rapid upward mobility at work etc. These prevent women from enjoying defacto equality in employment opportunities and benefits. In general, women are placed in less privileged positions in the economy, earn less than men, and work under more precariousconditions. In the public service, majority of women are in the lower cadre of employment such as secretaries/receptionists, clerks and other support staff.

18.7.2 Family Commitments

18.7.2.1 In the Sierra Leone civil service in particular, women who live with their parents or have young children, have on many occasions refused to be transferred outside duty stations, thus losing the opportunity of gaining relevant experience required to qualify them for promotions. The lack of support systems such as day-cares or crèches constitutes a barrier to women’s full participation in both the public and private sector. Mothers due to gender division of labour are charged with caring for the young ones. The double burden consequently resulting from career and family management inhibits women’s entry to and progress in the labour force.

18.7.3 Education

18.7.3.1 Over the years, fewer females than male have accessed high level jobs. Lower literacy rates among women continue to deprive them of access to higher paying, socially secured job opportunities. Sound and qualitative education, training and skills development which women often lack is a prerequisite for obtaining secure work in professional organizations and maintain steady progress to management and executive levels. Another inhibiting factor is the tendency for girls and women to pursue courses and acquire qualifications in areas that attract lower wages and are often seen as non-essential/priority professions.

18.8 Challenges

18.8.1 There are no sex-disaggregated data on employment across sectors, professions and disciplines to guide strategic planning and intervention to address gender disparities. Development of gender sensitive database and provision of appropriate training to enhance women’s leadership and management skill is required to bridge existing gaps.

19 A rticle 12: E quality of Access to Health Care

1 9.1 Legal Measures

Sections 8 (3) d, e of the 1991 Constitution deal with health issues. These sections emphasize parity with regards to health among all persons in Sierra Leone. These sub sections seek to ensure that;

(d)There are adequate medical and health facilities for all persons, having due regard to the resources of the State.

(e)Care and welfare of the aged, young and disabled shall be actively promoted and safeguarded.

19.2 General Conditions

19.2.1 There is no overt discrimination against women in terms of access to healthcare services. Women, especially in the urban area have access to health care facilities though these are expensive and out of the reach and affordability of many, particularly in the rural areas where the bulk of them live. Government and its partners have over the years undertaken a number of interventions to provide women with the necessary services. The Ministry of Health and Sanitation has trained community health workers across the country and TBAs are trained on a continual basis in a bid to reduce the maternity mortality rates. During the war, however, many of the health centers and facilities were destroyed. Hospitals and clinics are being built in every chiefdom headquarter town and existing ones are being rehabilitated. Women’s access to these facilities is however hampered by the high cost of the services, high shortage of trained health personnel and traditional beliefs which limit the free choice of women to these services.

19.3Actual Progress in Equality of Access to Health care for all

19.3.1 In addition to the constitutional provisions, government and its partners have over the years, undertaken a number of interventions to provide women with the necessary health services with varying results.

19.4Communicable Disease Control

19.4.1 A Ministry of Health and Sanitation study in 2003 indicated that 37.1 per cent of the pregnant women were infected with malaria. A study in 2004 also pointed out that 47 per cent of outpatient morbidity among children under five (5) years was also due to malaria. Efforts have been made to control the spread of malaria through a Roll Back Malaria Programme (RBM) The RBM has also adopted the Intermittent Preventive Strategy, which involves the provision of insecticides treated bed nets, administration of tetanus toxoid, prompt treatment by administering fansidar and providing advice on nutrition. These benefits are provided only to those who attend hospitals either on a cost recovery basis or free of charge depending on the community.

19.5Response to the HIV/AIDS Pandemic

19.5.1Government has set up a National HIV/AIDS Secretariat as a major part of its response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The Secretariat has provided financial and technical support to civil society organizations countrywide to carry out sensitization. One of the mandates of the Secretariat is to monitor HIV/AIDS programmes and the benefits to the beneficiaries nation-wide. However, statistics on the number of beneficiaries from such programmes is yet to be made available.

19.5.2 The report indicates that the HIV prevalence in Sierra Leone is 1.53 per cent (127 positives out of 8,308 tested cases). This reveals an increase of 0.6 per cent over the 0.9 per cent in the CDC estimates of 2002. Although the rates are low the level of infection almost doubled in the three year period. According to the Report there is no significant difference between males (1.5 per cent) and females (1.6 per cent). It was also observed that infection is higher in the age group of 15-24 for females than males (Government of Sierra Leone 2005). Stigmatization remains a very big challenge for women living with HIV/AIDS as it is often linked to promiscuity.

19.5.3 To prevent mother to child transmission Neviraprin is administered in government hospitals free of charge. Similarly, all pregnant women are encouraged to be tested after appropriate counseling. If found positive Anti-Retroviral drugs are also provided free of charge.

19.5.4 CD4 cell count is done without cost for People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Community sensitization is conducted nation wide and condom use is widely promoted. However the female condom is very difficult to access largely due to cost, availability and cultural reasons. Sexually Transmitted Infection (STIs) and HIV components have recently been introduced into school curriculum.

19.6Safe Motherhood Programme

19.6.1This is a major health strategy adopted by government and its numerous partners in the attempt to enhance the maternal health of women and reduce mortality and morbidity rates. The programme incorporates major activities such as family planning, obstetric care and training of Traditional Birth Attendants.

19.7 Immunization

19.7.1 The programme of immunization started prior to the signing of the CEDAW Convention. It is seen as a strategy to improve women’s health by reducing maternal deaths. Available data indicate that the level of coverage for pregnant women has been on the increase since 2002 reaching 64.0 per cent for January to September of 2005.

The Table below shows that immunization levels had exceeded 50.0 per cent since 2002. (This is due to mass sensitization by the government on the importance and benefits of immunization).

Table 26. Immunization Coverage of Pregnant Women

Year	Percentage	Female Population
2002	51.0	256628
2003	62.1	273521
2004	60.0	271798
Jan-September 2005	64.0	286360

Calculated from Data from the Ministry of Health and Sanitation,

19.8 Family Planning

19.8.1Most family planning activities by government are subsumed under the existing Maternal/Child Health programme geared towards reducing maternal mortality. Specific interventions by Government include:

The formulation and adoption of the National Population Policy with a strong emphasis on family planning as a major strategy.

The development of a Population Plan of Action for the implementation of the National Population Policy.

The establishment of a National Family Planning Programme.

The formation of a draft policy on Sexual and Reproductive Health.

19.8.2In addition, three major institutions provide family planning/reproductive health services in Sierra Leone. They are the Planned Parenthood Association of Sierra Leone (PPASL) founded in 1959, Marie Stopes Society of Sierra Leone, established in 1984 and the National Family Planning Programme (NFPP), established in 1992. Together these cover almost 70.0 per cent of the country except the Kailahun, Pujehun, Bonthe and Koinadugu districts due to their far locations and transportation difficulties. These services are donor driven though the State provides cash subventions and import duty concessions. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Care International have been the major sources of contraceptives and other reproductive health commodities.

19.8.3 The three service delivery agencies provide a full range of reproductive health and family planning services including planning for men and women, pregnancy advice, child delivery services and both ante-natal and post-natal care. One clinic provides STI services, while another offers education through home visits.

19.8.4Efforts to make Reproductive Health/Family Planning services widely available to rural areas have so far been unsuccessful as most service delivery points are still in urban areas. The delivery of family planning services throughout the country, especially the implementation of community based projects in rural areas has been hampered by a number of problems and constraints. These include insufficient funding, inadequate trained personnel, affordability on the part of the beneficiaries and the low acceptability rate especially in rural areas where traditional resistance to the modern use of contraceptives is greatest. Further more, the decision to use modern family planning methods lies with the male partner. Family planning services are very expensive and not within the reach of many women poverty has a female face. The poorest of the poor are women.

19.8.5Anemia is a significant problem for pregnant women. Although reporting of causes of maternal death has been shown to be unreliable, anemia has been recognized as one of the major causes of maternal death in Sierra Leone. A study of the nutritional situation in Sierra Leone based on available evidence from the 1978 National Nutritional Survey revealed that pregnant women are at nutritional risk because they are underweight, anemic and vitamin deficient (Kolosa,1980) Pregnant women; it was reported do not gain enough weight during pregnancy. While a normal gain is 12.5 kilograms are seen in health clinics, most health professionals suggest that malnutrition among pregnant women and lactating mother is the second major nutritional problem in Sierra Leone.

19.9 Reproductive Health

19.9.1 There is limited sensitization, information and counseling regarding family planning, prevention and treatment of sexually transmissible infections and treatment of sexually coercion and violence for women especially in the rural areas. Further more, the men who have the final say whether their partners make use of family planning services are mostly not targeted for information and counseling. The women need the consent of partners. The traditional and/cultural beliefs position men to accept that sexually transmitted diseases/infections are transmitted to them by their wives/partners. A married woman would be accused of promiscuity if her husband/ partner discover she is using any type of the family planning drugs without his knowledge.

19.9.2 However, NGOs like Marie Stopes and Planned Parenthood Association Sierra Leone (PPASL) have been very instrumental in providing family planning services. These services are however urban-based and suffer from service delivery problem as well as cultural and other social setbacks e.g., cultural and traditional premium placed on giving birth to many children especially in rural setting, usually decision-making regarding the use of family planning methods lies mostly with the male spouse/partner and not the females.

19.10Maternal Morbidity and Mortality

19.10.1 Reduction of Maternal Morbidity and mortality is the thrust of government’s maternal health programme. The aim is to reduce the level of maternal deaths in order to meet the target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).In spite of these efforts, the level of maternal deaths during 1985 to 2002 was estimated at 1,800 deaths for 100,000 live births, which is one of the highest in the world (Sierra Leone Poverty Reduction Paper 2005-2007, March 2005, p36). The three UN Agencies, UNFPA; WHO; and UNICEF are collaborating with the government of Sierra Leone on the programme “operationalization of Reproductive Health” in Sierra Leone with a focus on the reduction of maternal mortality and morbidity. The programme aims at increase access to Emergency Obstetric Services in the country.

19.11 Major Contributory Factors to the High Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR)

19.11.1 It has been estimated that 55-58 per cent of maternal deaths are associated with the following conditions, in order of priority (MOH & UNICEF 2004)

Hemorrhage

Obstructed labour

Eclampsia

Infection, malaria included

Abortion

19.11.2 A UNICEF evaluation study on safe motherhood highlighted multiple socio-economic factors that contribute to the high level of maternal mortality. These include: (i) the relatively high cost of treatment at health facilities, (ii) lack of trained professional midwives at the community level, (iii) untrained MCH aides and TBAs to undertake complicated obstetrics, as seen in Table 27.0 below.

Table 27. Distribution of Reported Maternal Death by Contributory Factors

CONTRIBUTING FACTORS	Number of Deaths	%
Women/husband/relatives did not recognize the problem in time	2	10.5
Husband/partner/relatives did not allow her to go to hospital	1	5.3
No transportation to take women to hospital	4	21.0
Could not afford cost of transportation	0	0.0
No staff available at health facility at time of arrival of the women	0	0.0
No competent staff to manage the obstetric problem	4	21.0
No blood available for transfusion	2	10.5
Could not afford cost of treatment	1	5.3
Others	5	26.4
Total	19	100.0

Source: Evaluation of Safe Motherhood services in Sierra Leone . Final Report UNICEF.

19.11.3 Another factor contributing to the rise in the MMR is inadequate specialized

health workforce to handle the health situation successfully. This is evident from Table 28.0 below.

19.11.4 Efforts are also being made to improve the morbidity rates of women by tackling serious health conditions such as Visco Vaginal Fistula (VVF). Due to the lack of adequate surgical facilities, government in collaboration with an international NGO (International Medical Corps) has been providing support for VVF patients. A 20-bed unit with the necessary equipment and facilities are based in Princess Christian Maternity Hospital (PCMH). However, only one (1) doctor and a nurse are trained in VVF surgery. Mercy Ship an international NGO is also treating VVF Patients.

19.11.5 In 2002, a total of one hundred and forty- two (142) surgeries were conducted at PCMH with a 90 per cent success rate. The PCMH operates 4-6 cases a week, provides quality pre and post operative nursing care, conducts health sensitization talks, runs a VVF clinic and provides free caesarean section when required.

19.11.6 The Fistula Foundation (NGO) has an arrangement with the ChoithramHospital that allows for two (2) wards and an operating room to be used to conduct operations; consequently, one hundred and sixty-four (164) surgeries have been carried out. At various intervals through out the year, specialists from the USA are guests to the Foundation to conduct surgery and train the nurses.

Staffing Requirements

Table 28. Distribution of Selected Ministry of Health and Sanitation Personnel July 2004

Specialization	Number in Post in 1993	Number in Post in 2003	Number in Post in 2004	Number in Post in 2005	Established Vacancy	Gap
Obstetrician Gynaecologists	2	8	7	6	30	24
State certified Midwives	-	-	197	-	300	103

Source: Ministry of Health Human Resource Development Survey 2004.

19.10.1 As seen in the Table above there is a gross shortage of relevant staff that could contribute to the improvement of the MMR. A total of eighty per cent of all expected gynecologists are not at post. This implies that the health system is only running on a fifth of its capacity. The situation is much better regarding State Certified Midwives. Although almost 66 per cent of the expected personnel are in post slightly more than a third more need to be recruited in order to make the system fully functional.

19.10.2 Available data revealed that all government gynecologists/obstetricians and all pediatricians are located in urban areas. Similarly all four available government nutritionists are also located in urban areas. On the contrary, over two thirds of the MCH Aides are in the rural areas.

The percentage of births attended to by trained health personnel has dropped significantly over the years as seen in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Percentage of Births attended to by Qualified Health staff over time

Figure 4 indicates a continuous downward trend. In 1995/96 only 25.0 per cent of all births were attended to by the appropriate health personnel. The situation has improved in the last decade. However, less than fifty (50) per cent of all births are still attended to by skilled personnel.

19.11 Additional efforts to improve MMR:

19.11.1 Training of health staff to manage complications of pregnancies and deliveries. To meet the challenges of providing health for women, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and its NGO partners have carried out a number of training sessions to improve the available expertise. Key trainings have included those for TBAs who perform significant roles in the rural areas. Training is also provided in specialized areas such as administration of anti-retroviral drugs, emergency obstetric care and contraceptive technology. Currently the government, UNFPA and European Union (EU) are collaborating in the training of the second batch of Nurse Anesthetists who will be deployed in all districts to facilitate the handling of all emergency operations. The batch of eight graduated and were deployed in six (6) district hospitals.

Improving transportation, ambulance carts are being used to move pregnant women from remote areas to urban areas where the health facilities are centralized. UNFPA has provided twenty ambulances, trailers, motorized power tillers and tractors to communities to reduce delay in transportation as well as empowering women economically through agriculture.

Sensitization of pregnant women on the complications of pregnancies and the necessary actions they should take.

19.11.2 Key NGOs also provide the following sexual reproductive services to complement government efforts:

Conducting Pap smear tests for cervical cancer.

Running ante-natal and post natal services at affordable cost in some areas of the country.

Syndromic treatment of STIs.

Realizing the dangers of abortion, the NGOs have been advocating for law reforms on abortion in cases of rape and unwanted pregnancy.

Education and awareness raising on the use of family planning methods to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

Introduction of the morning after pill to reduce the complications of unsafe abortion.

Awareness raising on the female condom, in order to reduce the threat of contracting HIV and other STIs.

19.12Environmental Sanitation

19.12.1 Government in the nineties formulated a national policy on the environment that charts the way for improving the environment in general. The level of implementation has been low and slow. This has given rise to a decline in environmental sanitation especially in the big cities and towns and has contributed to the high incidence of malaria nation-wide.

19.12.2 Challenges to improving the sanitation of the environment include; The slow pace of uptake of responsibility for ensuring proper environmental sanitation in the Municipality, appropriate and cost effective strategies for waste collection and disposal have still to be put in place, lack of man-power and logistics.

19.13 The Disabled

19.13.1 There is a shortage of services for the disabled especially the physically disabled. There are no provisions for special facilities for easy mobility/access for them. However, there is a school for the blind, deaf and dumb.

19.14 The Aged

19.14.1 There is only one institution for the aged called “The King George V Home for the Aged”.

19.15 Mental Health

19.15.1 Government recognized that mental health is part of the health system; nevertheless this sector is grossly under resourced. It is very difficult to obtain reliable data on the percentages of mental cases nation wide, however a 2002 sample survey indicate the following:

‘Twenty (20) per cent psychotics; 4.0 per cent with severe depression, 4.0 per cent with severe substance abuse; 1.0 per cent mentally retarded and 1.0 per cent with epilepsy (Jensen, 2002)”. The data is not disaggregated by sex making it difficult to determine the level of women’s mental health from the study. Nevertheless, other findings indicate that women are less prone to alcohol and drug abuse than men to a ratio of 5:1 and 2:1 respectively.

19.15.2 In compliance with providing overall health (including mental health) Government does run a psychiatric hospital which is often described as:

“a worn out, psychiatric hospital with 120 patients, one-fourth in heavy iron chains, lacking basic drugs, adequate mental health training of staff at primary, secondary and community health care levels”.

19.15.3 It is noteworthy that there are only three formally trained Sierra Leonean mental health professionals, one Psychiatrist and two Psychiatric nurses in the entire country.

19.15.4 Against this constraining background, qualitative data derived from in depth discussions with key personnel in the mental health section of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation point to the fact that women are more prone to post-traumatic stress derived from the war fuelled by domestic social, economic and psychological problems. A Mental Health Bill has been drafted and is expected to be placed before Parliament for passage. The Kissy Mental home was recently renovated and has improved significantly.

19.16 Eye Care

19.16.1 The government’s eye care program is largely supported by international NGOs such as Sight Savers International with children constituting over fifty per cent of beneficiaries. Others include the United Methodist Conference Eye Clinic and the Baptist Convention Eye Clinic. However available data on such schemes is incomplete, and often un-disaggregated by sex, this limits the analyses and application of their outcomes.

19.17 Health Law Reform

19.17.1 Government is currently making efforts to reform existing laws to accommodate emerging women’s health issues under the Sexual Offences Act 2004. The Law Reform Commission however accepts that a number of International Agreements signed by Sierra Leone including those of CEDAW have yet to be incorporated into the laws of the land. Efforts to incorporate other issues indirectly related to women’s health such as the age at marriage are ongoing.

19.18 Challenges

19.18.1 Inadequate manpower, lack of gender sensitive laws and polices continue to constrain opportunities for accessing health care by women on an equitable basis. Weak health infrastructure, inaccessible roads, transportation, un-affordability of drugs and services, complicated by feminized poverty are challenges to women’s full enjoyment of available provisions. Increased partnership between the MoHS, MSWGCA and other agencies is required for improving the health status of women and meeting the Targets of the PRSP and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Lack of laws and policies continue to affect women’s access to health care.

20 A rticle 13: S ocial and E conomic B enefits

20.1Family Benefits

20.1.1Section 45 (1) of the NASSIT (National Social Security Insurance Trust) Act on survivors’ benefits provides that “on the death of a member, a survivor’s benefit in the form of pensions shall be payable to the widow or widower and dependent children of the deceased person”. Also in subsection 3 of the Act, it provides that “the widow or widower shall be entitled to 40 per cent of the survivor’s benefit until death or, in the case of a woman, until she begins to live with a man as a wife…” The Act is however silent on whether a widower who begins to stay with another wife he ceases to benefits from the survivor’s benefits.

20.2Access to Bank Loans, Mortgages and Other Forms of Financial Credits

20.2.1 The 1991 Constitution guarantees equal access to all opportunities and benefits on merit. In principle therefore, both men and women have equal rights to bank loans and other forms of financial credit.

20.2.2 Although there are no available data on the number of beneficiaries disaggregated by sex of commercial bank loans and mortgages, women generally have less favourable access than men to financial credit provided by commercial banks. The major factor responsible for such disparity is the inability of women to acquire property which they can use as collateral for receipt of loan. In addition to commercial banks, NGOs have also provided credit facilities targeting women specifically sometimes as individuals, but more often as groups or associations. Loans are provided to help women start, sustain and manage their own businesses in soap making, gara tie dyeing and petty trading.

20.3 From the government supported programs, the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) operates a micro-credit programme (formerly under the Social Action and Poverty Alleviation Programme) NaCSA’s (National Commission for Social Action) micro credit programme is specifically designed to target rural communities, groups of women and various community based organizations. The programme is jointly funded by the African Development Bank and the Government of Sierra Leone.

20.4 To further respond to the limited outreach of previous micro-finance attempts by the government, the government in 2000 adopted a community based chiefdom micro- credit committees comprising the paramount chief, elderly members of the community and women representatives. Each of the one hundred and forty nine (149) chiefdoms in the country has a committee and each received a micro-credit under the programme. Over forty thousand (40,000) loans have been used under this programme.

20.5 The national micro- finance policy clearly states that at present there are several providers of micro- credit finance with each agency implementing its own scheme. There are no guidelines in terms of policies or even regulatory or coordinating framework. This situation has the tendency of undermining good initiatives in this sector. The policy further highlights a major gap in the efforts of micro- finance as not being sustainable given the interest rates charged since it almost inhibits covering cost and risk of providing micro- finance services to a large number of people.

20.6 Immediately after the cessation of hostilities, many groups providing micro- finance emerged in Sierra Leone. Private individuals, cooperatives and various NGOs such as the Association for Rural Development (ARD), World Hope International, American Refugee Council (ARC), Grassroots’ Gender Empowerment Movement (GGEM) and the Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD), among others, provided credit/ grants targeting particularly women. Most of these are limited in outreach and have small funds and staff to properly target the vulnerable.

20.7 Between 1998-2004, the ARDadministered a total of 9,816 group loans and 223 individual loans. Eighty-one per cent (81 per cent) of these directly benefited women whilst only 19 per cent benefited men. Of the 223 individual loans 18 per cent went to women and 81.16 per cent men. The loans provided to individuals ranged between Two hundred thousand Leones (Le 200,000) to one million Leones (Le1,000,000).

Grassroots’ Gender Empowerment Movement micro – credit scheme is specifically geared towards the administration of group loans. Between 2000-2004, a total of 1,657 group loans 81.23 per cent went to women and 18.76 per cent to male clients.

20.8 World Hope International in 2002 provided micro-credit opportunities to a total of 9,285 beneficiaries across the country. Ninety-nine point zero three per cent (99.03 per cent) of the beneficiaries were women. To benefit from the loan scheme, clients are required to pay all their loans within 120 days from the time the loans are given.

20.9 Rights to Participate in Recreational Activities

20.9.1 There are no legal barriers to the participation of women in recreational and sports activities as well as in other aspects of cultural life.

21 A rticle 14: R ural W omen

21.1 In Sierra Leone females constitute more than 51 per cent of the population and most of them live in the rural areas, engaged in subsistence farming, petty trade and management of the family. Women provide more than 80 per cent of farm labour for food production, processing, distribution and food preparation. Because of cultural, political and economic conditions, women farmers remain disadvantaged by unequal access to land for agriculture. Various researches have been undertaken by the government through sectoral ministries and NGOs to identify the particular needs of rural women. Among these are health, education, credit and access to agricultural land, participation in governance and decision making, basic amenities (water, electricity, transport and communication facilities).

21.2.Access to Health

21. 2 .1 With the end of the war, government embarked on a nation-wide rehabilitation of primary health units and provision of access to such facilities. However, the high cost of health care services and the small number of health personnel has made affordability and accessibility to health care facilities in the rural areas very difficult. In its efforts to provide health care services to the rural women government has formulated health policies and so far the following have been achieved:

A comprehensive Health Education Policy and developed a well-planned and effective Primary Health care (PHC) delivery system which has been devolved to the Local Councils from the Health Ministry;

The government has embarked on training TBAs in various chiefdoms throughout the country;

The government has rehabilitated a number of health centres in the country;

Government also supports Family life education programmes and HIV/AIDS Programmes through the National Aids Secretariat (NAS).

21.2 .2 Education on reproductive health and family planning is more easily accepted by the urban women than rural women because of the level of education and exposure of the latter. There are also cultural and social problems affecting rural women’s access to reproductive health services. The consent of the husband is, as a matter of must, required before the wife can access reproductive health services including family planning. Most often the husband withholds his consent on the grounds of tradition. As a consequence there is high rate of maternal mortality among rural women. Early/ forced marriage is another traditional practice that negatively impacts on rural women’s health.

21.3 Very little has, however, been done in the provision of well trained, committed and remunerated officials. Most health centres do not have adequate medicines. Programmes to address the reduction of the incidence of infant and maternal health problems are yet to be undertaken. See table 29.0 below.

Table 2 9. Percentage Distribution of Respondents by Use of Family Planning Methods in Birth Control by Province
Province	Use of Family Planning Methods
	Yes	No	Total Percentage
Western Area	38	62	100
Northern	9	91	100
Southern	31	69	100
Eastern	5	95	100
National	20.75	79.25	100
Source: CEDAW Field Survey Data, 2005
The above table reveals that 20.75 per cent of the rural women in Sierra Leone use family planning methods and 79.25 per cent do not use family planning methods. At regional level, the Western area has the highest population of rural women that use family planning methods (38 per cent) followed by the Southern province (31 per cent). The northern and eastern regions have low use of family planning methods which are 9 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.

21.4 The existing health care services for women in Sierra Leone are inadequate, expensive and often inaccessible.

21.5 In rural areas only a small number of the population has access to safe water supply. The majority gets their water from rivers, springs and swamps. Women take the responsibility for this and they spend long hours fetching water. In many cases they are forced to fetch water from unprotected sources, some infected with mosquitoes, often polluted and in poor sanitary conditions. Waterborne diseases are very common in such areas and are a major cause for the high rate of child mortality and low life expectancy. The rebel war led to total destruction, in some parts of the country, of medical infrastructure and facilities. Most rural women were exposed to disproportionate share of atrocities including rape and sexual abuse thus being exposed to sexually transmitted diseases and the HIV/AIDS virus.

21.6 Access to Education

21.6.1 The government of Sierra Leone considers women’s education as a vital tool for national development. Government has therefore directed its educational policies at ensuring access to basic education favouring the girl child with a view to helping rural women; relevant goals of the policies are:

To reduce illiteracy among women and girls;

To improve technical and vocational training with an increase participation of women and girls for satisfying new demands in various sectors such as industry, agriculture, trade, and commerce and other social services;

21.6.2 Government action to promote education of girls particularly in the rural areas is discussed under Article10.

21.6.3 The non-formal education is more concerned with the promotion of education among rural women in the country. The major aspects of the training are basic skills and adult literacy. At the moment there is no data base to supply accurate statistics about how many women have benefited; besides, the centres for training and literacy education are in the district headquarters, there is lesser access to these facilities by rural women due to reasons of distance and restrictions by their husbands. See tables below:

Table 30. Percentag e Distribution of Respondents with Educational Facilities located within and away from their Communities by Province
Province	Distance of Location of Educational Facilities
Less than	Within	2 Miles	Educational facilities	Total Percentage
	1 Mile	1-2 Miles	and More	in Community
Western Area	0	0	0	100	100
Northern	8	16	18	58	100
Southern	5	12	1	82	100
Eastern	5	14	42	39	100
National	4.5	10.5	15.25	69.75	100
Source: CEDAW Field Survey Data, 2005
The Table above shows that 69.75 per cent of the National population of rural women have access to educational facilities in their communities.15.25 per cent access the educational facilities two miles from their location, 10.5 per cent access these facilities within 1 - 2 miles away from their communities and 4.5 per cent access these facilities within less than 1 mile from their localities.It is further shown that the Western Area has100 per cent access to educational facilities in their communities, the Southern Region has 82 per cent access to educational facilities in their localities while the Eastern Region and the northern region have 39 per cent and 58 per cent access to educational facilities in their localities respectively.
Table 31. Percentage Distribution of Respondents with Access to Educational Facilities by Province
Province	Access to Educational Facilities
Yes	No	Total Percentage
Western Area	100	0	100
Northern	58	42	100
Southern	82	18	100
Eastern	39	61	100
National	69.75	30.25	100
Source: CEDAW Field Survey Data, 2005
The above Table reveals that 69.75 per cent of the National population of rural women in Sierra Leone have direct access to educational facilities in their localities and 30.25 percent do not have direct access to educational facilities in their communities.

21.6.4 Although women’s education is essential for self and national development, several factorsimpede education for them, accounting for the comparatively low number of educated women and a much higher illiteracy rate especially for rural women in the country. Some of these impediments include factors such as early marriage for girls, higher demand for female labour in the family and teenage pregnancy which causes high drop out rates. Other factors are the cist of education and the preference of many parents to invest scarce resources on the education of male children.

21.7 Access to Agricultural Credit and Land

21.7.1 Rural women have very little access to credit. Formal credit institutions generally frown at credit for an agricultural activity, which is the mainstay of rural women in Sierra Leone They normally resort to itinerant money lenders who charge exorbitant interest rates. In most cases, the monies are lent during the hunger season and the loans are to be repaid in kind during the harvest season. Such a credit system has resulted in a vicious cycle of poverty as nearly all harvests are used to repay the seasonal loans. The availability of credit from financial institutions and NGOs and local associations and cooperatives remain severely limited to rural women.

21.8Sierra Leone has a dual land tenure system- communal land ownership and the customary land ownership. In the communal land holdings, land belongs purely to the community/Government. Under the customary land ownership, land belongs to a particular family in the community. In the communal land ownership, the use of land requires permission from the town/village authorities and most times there is a limit in the acquisition of land by rural women who must be represented by their husbands. In a few cases the land can be leased to or even purchased by rural women in which case the land can be used on a temporary basis. In the customary land ownership, the land belongs to a family in the community and traditionally only male members of such families have the right to the land and they can inherit, bequeath/pass on to their children.The Law Reform Commission is yet to release proposed land reform which will guarantee rights of women to possess land.

21.9 Access to Extension Services

21.9.1 Government policy on agriculture provides that “there would be an increase and direct access to extension services to women farmers for institutional, information, financial, technical and advisory support” however, due to the low level of education of rural women, this policy is merely in principle. Most rural women perform agricultural functions restricted to farming activities with no active provision for extension services.

Table 32 below shows the relative low participation of rural women in extension services as compared to rural men in Sierra Leone.

Table 32. Percentage Distribution of Respon dents by Access to Extension Services by Sex
Access to	SEX	National %
Extension Services	Male %	Female %
Yes	18	11.33	13
No	54	57.33	56.5
Not Available	28	31.33	30.5
Grand Total	100	100.00	100
Source: CEDAW Field Survey Data, 2005
The Table above shows that of the total rural population of men 18 per cent have access to extension services as compared to 11.33 per cent of the total population of rural women with access to extension services.
Table 33. Percentage Distribution of Respondents Receiving or not Receiving Extension Services by reason by Province
	Province
Reasons for no	Western	Northern	Southern	Eastern	National
Extension Services	Area
Services Not Available	2	41	12	16	17.75
No Money or Source	4	0	0	11	3.75
Sickness of Personnel	0	0	0	3	0.75
Too Much Work Load	1	0	0	0	0.25
No Land to Cultivate	5	0	1	0	1.5
Too Busy with Trading	2	0	0	0	0.5
No Farming Activities	7	9	17	2	8.75
Student	0	0	0	1	0.25
Not Prepared	0	1	7	0	2
Inaccessible Road toLocation	0	0	1	0	0.25
Unfortunate	0	2	11	33	11.5
Partner/Spouse own Land/Farm	0	4	14	19	9.25
Provision of Extension Services	79	43	37	15	43.5
Total Percentage	100	100	100	100	100
Source: CEDAW Field Survey Data, 2005
The Table above reveals that 43.5 per cent of the national rural women’s population receive extension services and the remaining 56.5 per cent do not receive extension services.The table also shows that bulk of the services are given in the Western area with79 per cent of the rural womenaccessing it,followed by the northern region with43 per cent, and 37 per centfor southern region.The eastern region receives the least extension service with only 15 per cent of the rural women accessing it.

21.10 Memberships in Co-operatives

21.10.1 Most rural women are self-employed either in agricultural activity or petty trading. During and immediately after the civil war, special programmes and funds were created targeting rural women in the form of micro-credit schemes.These programmes were often developed as components of larger development projects run by government and NGOS. In addition, women have taken measures to help one another in gaining access to credit either through traditional group savings or associations or cooperatives. NGOs conducted workshops to train rural women to form savings and credit clubs as a prerequisite for the award of micro-credits .Through group saving schemes, women have been able to accumulate enough funds to buy fertilizers, improved seeds and pay for transportation to market their produce. Women co-operatives exist in all rural communities with large resettled population. Self –help groups were formed for rotational farm work.

21.11Social Security and Benefits

21.11.1 The newly developed social security scheme is an improvement on the pension scheme that existed before; this latter was more for workers within the government establishment. The NASSIT Act of 2001 provides for social security benefits to salaried employees who contributed to the scheme. This is regardless of marital or family status. 87.25 per cent of the population of rural women are non-beneficiaries of the scheme, owing to the fact that most are self-employed and therefore cannot contribute to the scheme.As entrenched in section 45, sub section1 of the 2000 NASSIT Act, “on the death of a member, survivors’ benefit in the form of pension shall be payable to the widow or widower and dependent children of the deceased person; in sub section 3 it is stated, “The widow shall be entitled to 40 per cent of the survivors’ benefit until death…..and the dependent children shall be entitled to 60 per cent of the benefit…” The scheme, is currently working on strategies to target the unemployed/self- employed (including women).

21.12 Participation in the elaboration and implementation of development planning at local government level.

21.12.1 The governments, through the establishment of Local Councils, have created opportunities for rural women to participate in the formulation and implementation of development planning at the local government level. Women are serving as Councilors in the respective Councils in the country (with the exception of Koinadugu District Council). One woman is currently serving as council Chairperson and two others are serving as Deputies. At the Ward level, the local government Act of 2004 provides for a statutory 50/50 gender composition.

21.13 Access to Infrastructure

21.13.1 The decade long civil war destroyed most of the basic amenities which were already crumbling due to lack of maintenance long before the war. In the post war reconstruction, government has prioritized the provision of amenities that are urgently needed. Government is pursuing an active development strategy in transport, power, telecommunications, and water and sanitation sectors aimed at expanding and increasing the efficiency of service delivery in each area. The National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) has championed the activities of government in this direction and collaborates with NGOs and CBOs and other development partners. Schools, community health centers, water and sanitation are now available in many areas due to these interventions.

21.13.2 Transport: The Government is trying to address the appalling state of the road infrastructure. This is coordinated by the SLRA, which is largely funded by donors. In the medium term recovery efforts will focus mainly on rehabilitating feeder roads. This is geared towards benefiting rural communities especially women. The opening-up of road networks will allow rural women to transport their goods to markets around the country at affordable costs.

21.13.3 Electricity: Electricity supply is limited to the capital Freetown and the provincial headquarter towns in the southern and eastern provinces. The overall supply is irregular and accessed by very few. In this connection, government has requested the support of the World Bank group to commission a study to reform the power sector. Government is developing a private sector partnership participation strategy, with support from the World Bank. Government has secured funding from the African Development Bank and the Italian Government for the completion of the Bumbuna Hydro-electric Dam, which will increase power supply to parts of the rural areas in the north.

21.13.4 Water supply: The civil war caused extreme physical damage both to provincial water installations and rural water supply schemes. Only about 30 per cent of rural population has access to safe drinking water. NGOs such as Action Aid have constructed water wells in all rural communities to ease the problem of water supply.

22 Article 15: Equality Before the Law and in Civil Matters

22.1 Legal Measures

22.1.1 Equality under General Law

22.1.2 There is no discrimination between women and men under the Civil law as there are no restrictions placed on individuals in concluding contracts and administering property.Women can also freely conclude contracts and administer property in their own name as individuals. Similarly, women can also sue and be sued in their own right as evident by existence of female Plaintiffs and Defendants in all the Courts in Sierra Leone.

22. 1.3 under criminal law, women can prosecute and be prosecuted in their own name. Section 23(1) of the 1991 Constitution provides and assures protection of the law to any person, irrespective of their sex and guarantees that, “Whenever any person is charged with a criminal offence he shall, unless the charge is withdrawn, be afforded a fair hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial court established by law”. In practice, sentences are not determined by sex but by the severity of the offence.

22.1.4Women participate as jurors who sit with Judges to determine matters as the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act No.12 of 1972 lawfully provides for both men and women to become jurors but not on equitable grounds as this Act specifies that:

–

every male person between the ages of twenty-one and

sixty years, and

every female person between the ages of thirty and sixty

years, who is resident in Sierra Leone and is literate in English shall be liable to serve as a Juror”.

22.1.5 The rationale for the differential age of juror selection is not explained or substantiated and would seem to be the stereotypical portrayal of women attaining the age of intellectual maturity at a latter age than their male counterparts.

22.1.6 In the Court System, (i.e. Local Courts, District Appeal Courts, Magistrate Courts, High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Courts) there are no written laws or policies exempting women from becoming Court Personnel.

22.2 Equality under Customary Law

Under customary law there are no rules exempting women from suing or being sued. Women can also freely enter into contracts in their own name and in the cases of female Paramount Chiefs, in applicable communities; they can be heads of families and therefore administer property. Women can also legally be appointed as Local Court Chairmen; however, out of about three hundred and fifty (350) Local Courts in the provinces, there is only one female Local Court Chairman representing 0.35 per cent.

23 A rticle 16: E quality in M arriage and F amily L aw

23.1 Legal and Other Measures

23.1.1 In Sierra Leone family relations are governed by Civil (General), Religious and Customary Law. Two forms of family exist in Sierra Leone. The nuclear and the extended family system. The nuclear family consists of one man, wife and children living in the household. It is usually the form of family that is practiced by educated people and Christians living in the urban areas of the country.

23.1.2 Extended family consists of the parents, children and other relations including grand-parents, sisters, brothers, cousins living together in the household.It is usually the form of family that is found amongst the uneducated, Muslims and non-Christians (Joko-Smart Sierra Leone Customary Family Law.) Marriages contracted under general, customary and religious law are legal.

23.2Freedom to choose a Spouse

23.2.1 Under general law, marriage is a contract and therefore, the parties (i.e. both man and woman) must agree before the marriage contract is valid. Lack of consent of either party will make the marriage voidable.

23.2.2 Under traditional customary law, the consent of the girl/woman was not relevant particularly where her suitor was a chief or influential elder in the village/town or chiefdom.It was only the male spouse whose consent was legally required. However, under modern customary law, the consent of the girl is legally necessary.

23.2.3 In addition, Section 7(2) of the Christian Marriage Act, Cap 95 of the Laws of Sierra Leone (1960) as amended, provides for the Father’s consent where a party to a marriage is under 21 years. The Section provides that:

“No marriage may be celebrated under the provisions of this Act between persons of whom each or either not being a widow or widower is under the age of twenty-one years, unless the consent of the father, or if he should be dead or unable for any reason to give such consent, then of the mother…”

23.2.4 This is clearly discriminatory against women as the mother’s consent is not required in the alternative when the father is alive and able/capable to give such consent.Where for any reason the father withholds such consent, that marriage cannot lawfully be celebrated as the mother cannot do anything until the father is dead.

23.2.5 Under Customary Law Marriage, the consent of the parents of the spouses- to- be is necessary for a valid marriage but there is no minimum age for marriage.For a male spouse- to- be, although in practice the consent of the family (including his mother and father) is sought, he can contract a valid marriage without family consent.But for a female spouse- to- be, both the father and mother if alive must agree before a valid marriage could be contracted.It is only when there is conflict between their wishes that those of the father prevail.

23.3Duties of Parties/Spouses

23.3.1 Under General Law, the husband has the duty to maintain the wife.Maintenance includes the provision of a home/dwelling place, food and clothing.There is no corresponding legal duty imposed on the wife to maintain the husband. The wife on the other hand, has the duty to do all the domestic chores in the household.

23.3.2 Each spouse owes the other duty of sexual intercourse beginning with the duty to consummate the marriage. The husband alone has the duty to physically protect the wife and it is for this reason that in criminal law the right to self defence is extended to the defence of a wife in the face of impending harm or violence.

23.3. 3Under customary law, the husband has the legal duty to maintain the wife/ wives and to protect her/ them. In return the wife, if she is the sole wife, is expected to do all the domestic work. If there is another wife or wives, these jobs are shared among them with the head/senior wife directing and sharing the jobs.The husband has exclusive sexual rights over the wife or wives but the wives do not have equal exclusive sexual rights over the husband.

23.4 Property Rights

23.4.1 Under General Law, there are presently no legal barriers against women owning property. Both husband and wife can either separately or jointly acquire, own, manage and dispose of property particularly real property including land and or house.

23.4.2 Where the husband and wife jointly own property, then both must agree before any lawful grant could be made.If either dies, the survivor gets all under the doctrine of jus accrescendai i.e. the principle in Equity and Trust of the Survivor taking all.

23.4.3 Where the property is individually owned then it is the person who bought it that owns it.However, in the situation where both parties contributed to the purchase price or the wife was supporting the husband through her domestic service, in the event of separation, both parties have interest in the property and the court will order sale and the proceeds shared proportionately.

23.4.4 Under Customary Law, based on the duty of the husband to maintain the wife, it is the husband who generally own real property including land, house and/or bush. The wife’s continued interest in the property depends on two factors:

-whether she bore children with the husband and

-whether on the death of the husband, she chooses to remarry a male relation of her deceased husband.

If none of these two factors exist, the woman/widow loses every right or interest in her deceased husband’s property.If she bore children in the marriage, then she will continue to have interest (not right) in her late husband’s property.

23.4.5 Administration of Property

23.4.5.1 The Administration of Estates Act, Cap 45 of The Laws of Sierra Leone 1960 deals with the administration of estates and the distribution of intestate estates.Where a deceased dies testate (i.e. makes a Will) the estate is distributed according to the provisions of the Will. However where a deceased dies intestate (i.e. where there is no Will) the Second Schedule to this Act provides the Rules of Distribution.

23.4.5.2 Rule 1 provides that “If a woman dies intestate leaving a husband the whole of the estate shall go to him” whilst Rule 2 provides that “If a man dies intestate leaving a widow and children or issue the widow shall be entitled to one-third of the estate, and the children or issue the remaining two-thirds equally between them per stripes”.

23.4.5.3 Section 26 of Cap 95 also creates room for discrimination against women with respect to the properties of both spouses because it provides that if both parties to a Christian marriage are natives, then the properties of both shall be subject to the Customary Laws of the tribes of the parties.

23.4.5.4 The Section provides, in part, that “the property of parties to a marriage celebrated under this Act shall, if both be natives, be subject in all respects to the laws and customs of the tribe or tribes to which the parties respectively belong.”

23.4.5.5 This creates legal room for discrimination against women because real property under customary law marriage belongs to the man whether or not both contributed to its acquisition.

23.4.5.6 The Devolution of Estate Bill 2006 is before Parliament for passage. The Bill shall apply to every citizen of Sierra Leone irrespective of religion or ethnic origin and privately acquired property. For the purpose of this Bill, a person dies intestate if at the time of his death he has not made a will disposing of his estate; any person who is survived by a will disposing of part of his estate dies intestate in respect of that part of his estate which is not disposed of in the will and relevant provisions of this Bill shall apply to such part of his estate, accordingly.

23.4.5.7 The Mohammedan Marriage Act, Cap 96 of the Laws of Sierra Leone , 1960

23.4.5.7.1 By section 9 of this Act, the distribution of the estates of a Mohammedan who dies intestate is highly discriminatory against women.The persons entitled to take out Letters of Administration; in order of preference are (a) the eldest son of the deceased if of full age, (b) the eldest brother or (c) any party to a Mohammedan marriage and being at the date of his death a Mohammedan, or the official Administrator.The Section provides that:

If on being unmarried and being at such date a Mohammedan, shall die intestate, the estate real and personal of such intestate shall be distributed in accordance with Mohammedan law.

The following persons shall be entitled to take out letters of administration in the order named: viz-

The eldest son of the intestate, if of full age according to Mohammedan law;

The eldest brother of the intestate if of full age according to Mohammedan law;

The official Administrator.

There are no provisions for women i.e. the wife, the eldest daughter or eldest sister to take out letters of administration.It is only male relations of an intestate who can lawfully administer his estate.This is patently and latently discriminatory against women.

23.5 Divorce

23.5.1 General Law

Divorce, which is the termination of marriage, is available to both husband and wife on the same grounds which are adultery, cruelty and desertion.There is no discrimination under General Law on the issue of divorce.

23.5.2 Customary Law

Under customary law, there is discrimination against women seeking divorce. A husband can divorce on the grounds of:

persistent adultery;

repeated disobedience and laziness;

slander of husband;

non-co-operation with co-wives;

refusal to allow husband to marry another wife;

frequent misconduct causing the husband to pay fines;

refusal to convert to Islam or husband’sreligion

The grounds for divorce for a wife are:

non-maintenance;

unhelpfulness to wife’s parent; and

impotence

The wife does not have the other grounds the man has for divorce particularly those of slander, persistent adultery, refusal to convert to her religion.

23.6Minimum Age for Sexual Acts

23.6.1 General Law

23.6.1.1 There is a minimum age provided by law for consent to sexual intercourse for girls.This is pursuant to Section 7 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, Cap 31 of The Laws of Sierra Leone, 1960 that provides fourteen years as the minimum age for girls to consent to sexual intercourse. The engagement in sexual intercourse below the age of fourteen year leads to the crime of unlawful carnal knowledge against the man. There is no minimum age of consent stipulated for males in Sierra Leone.

23.6.2 Customary Law

Under Customary Law, there is no age requirement for consent to sex by both girls and boys.However, a girl who is not a member of the ‘Bondo society’ (female secret society) is prohibited from lawfully consenting to sex and any man contravening this law commits an offence and is fined.Even where the girl is betrothed, the same rule applies.

Part III

C onclusion

24.1 There are Constitutional guarantees for almost every Article of CEDAW in some sectors of government; there are also gender neutral policies, which in effect mean that women will be disadvantaged because of factors that hinder their access to resources. The Constitution also has entrenched clauses that allow discrimination against women. The process of Constitutional amendment is long, expensive and arduous, and this poses a big challenge to the government in domesticating and implementing CEDAW.

24.2 Women have however made inroads in line with advances in education, political representation, and the provision made for women in the Ward Development Committees (WDCs), etc. The government has also taken measures to ensure that women enjoy their rights, for example, the Sababu project, the twin national policies, the Parliamentary Committee on Human rights, the Gender Caucus, the Law Reform Commission, NEWMAP, providing equal employment opportunities, etc. However, more needs to be done to increase women’s representation and participation in all spheres (public and private) of life.

24.3 It is evident that there are many more boys than girls in school in a country where there are more women than men. Government has put measures in place for example, the Education Act, which is compulsory but not enforced. Results of measures put in place still show stereotypical jobs for women. In the area or employment, Government is doing a lot for equal employment but there are still more women in the informal sector. The impact of family commitment does not encourage women to be involved in most areas where they can earn more. Even in the labour congress, there are 20 per cent women to 80 per cent men.

24.4 In as much as government is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of every Sierra Leonean as guaranteed by the Constitution by the establishment of NAS, SHARP and the Roll Back Malaria Programme, there is a rise in HIV cases and high Maternal Mortality Rates (MMR), due to cultural values and stereotypical attitudes of the society. Another major challenge in the health sector is the lack of specialized/qualified and experienced health care professionals. Many births for example are attended by Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) because of limited health care services particularly in the rural areas.

24.5 There is very limited awareness of CEDAW among all sectors/strata of society. There is also implementation of the twin national policies due to the lack of human and financial resources of MSWGCA. Considering the mandate of the MSWGCA and the programmes it is expected to implement and monitor, it is grossly under-funded compared to other line ministries. One possible future action in this case could be gender budgeting.

24.6 The twin policies have been quoted in this report in nearly every Article because they address many of the CEDAW provisions. The National Policy on the Advancement of Women which is women-specific is meant to bridge the gender gap. Many of the short/medium- term objectives and the strategies to attain these objectives could be viewed as special/temporary measures for accelerating equality. The National Policy on Gender Mainstreaming calls for equality of access to and participation in the development process as well as equality in the enjoyment of the benefits of development. It is, in itself, a mechanism for the implementation of Gender issue initiatives. It complements the policy on the advancement of women by:

Providing a legal framework and amandate for stakeholders to address gender imbalances in their sectors;

Providing an institutional framework and identifying institutions through which planning and implementation of gender-focused programmes will be effected;

Seeking to ensure the promotion of inter-institutional links directed at rectifying gender imbalances, and

Identifying entry points and providing their corresponding strategies through which gender concerns can be addressed.

24.7 In addition, the Policy Statement underscores a commitment by government to implement activities that would ensure that gender considerations would pervade all aspects of development policies, plans, programmes and projects as well as ensure gender equity and equality and thereby sustainable development.

24.8 The effective implementation of these policies will go a long way in meeting government’s obligations under CEDAW. It is hoped that with the necessary political will in providing the desired prerequisites the implementation of these policies will enable the government to honour its obligations under CEDAW, more effectively and satisfactorily.