Gender Responsive Governance In Sierra Leone

This book investigates gender equality and women’s empowerment in Sierra Leone, focusing especially on women’s interactions with the state and its development partners. In particular, it highlights women’s increasing agency in acquiring knowledge, diffusing power, engaging in grassroots politics, and compelling the government to adopt more gender-responsive policies. Exploiting extensive fieldwork and original multidisciplinary research methods (including econometric and statistical models), the book first sets out the history and impact of inequality in Sierra Leone, and then goes on to shed light on the constructive and collaborative engagement of women and the state on a variety of local and external strategies for promoting gender equality. Drawing throughout on insights from across gender studies, sociology, anthropology, economics, and political science, the book highlights how women are succeeding in transforming marginality into agency in order to build a platform for influencing change. By qualifying and quantifying the challenges of gender inequality in Sierra Leone, and the progress that is being made, this book provides important insights that will be relevant to other fragile, post-conflict states within Africa. The book will be of interest to students and researchers studying women and gender studies, African studies, economics, international development, sociology, and political science and international relations. It will also deepen policymakers’ and practitioners’ understanding of women’s diverse trajectories and experiences, and how the typology of government affects the patterns of inequality and equality.

This book investigates gender equality and women’s empowerment in Sierra Leone, focusing especially on women’s interactions with the state and its development partners. In particular, it highlights women’s increasing agency in acquiring knowledge, diffusing power, engaging in grassroots politics, and compelling the government to adopt more gender-responsive policies. Exploiting extensive fieldwork and original multidisciplinary research methods (including econometric and statistical models), the book first sets out the history and impact of inequality in Sierra Leone, and then goes on to shed light on the constructive and collaborative engagement of women and the state on a variety of local and external strategies for promoting gender equality. Drawing throughout on insights from across gender studies, sociology, anthropology, economics, and political science, the book highlights how women are succeeding in transforming marginality into agency in order to build a platform for influencing change. By qualifying and quantifying the challenges of gender inequality in Sierra Leone, and the progress that is being made, this book provides important insights that will be relevant to other fragile, post-conflict states within Africa. The book will be of interest to students and researchers studying women and gender studies, African studies, economics, international development, sociology, and political science and international relations. It will also deepen policymakers’ and practitioners’ understanding of women’s diverse trajectories and experiences, and how the typology of government affects the patterns of inequality and equality.

Since the 1991-2002 civil conflict ended in Sierra Leone, the country has failed to translate the accomplishments of women's involvement in bringing the war to an end into meaningful political empowerment. This is in marked contrast to other post-conflict countries, which have increased the political participation of women in elected and appointed office, increased the representation of women in leadership positions, and enacted constitutional reforms promoting women's rights. Written by Sierra Leonean and Africanist scholars and experts from a broad range of disciplines, this unique volume analyses the historical and contextual factors influencing women's political, economic and social development in the country. In drawing on a diverse array of case studies – from health to education, refugees to international donors – the contradictions, successes and challenges of women's lives in a post-conflict environment are revealed, making this an essential book for anyone involved in women and development.

Essay from the year 2017 in the subject Gender Studies, grade: B, , course: M. Phil Gender Studies, language: English, abstract: In this essay the author gives a critical synopsis of the gaps in the latest draft of the Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality Policy (WEGE) of Sierra Leona. The author identifies low/weak budgetary allocations, weak/non-existent structures for its implementation and the pervading cultural and social barriers that consider women and girls as inferior to men and boys, as key constraints affecting the realization of gender equality plans and policies. The author proposes that the WEGE policy, if endorsed and supported as intended, will help address these and other barriers and enhance the attainment of gender equality results in all sectors in Sierra Leone. The WEGE policy is also expected to pave the way for a Gender Equality Bill to be passed into law in the immediate future. The 2015 draft of the Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality Policy has five parts covering the gender and development context in Sierra Leone; the policy context and legal frameworks related to gender; the WEGE policy rational and objectives; implementation and operational framework; forward looking short, medium and long term strategies. It proposes to be a policy framework to guide in the setting of standards for national and international actors towards attaining gender equality in the country.

Debates about security governance in Africa and about the place of women within it have moved in parallel despite their interconnection. In this book, the authors align the debates, locating African-specific and feminist analysis within the security discourse.

This book investigates what GRB can deliver for gender equality and state resilience in fragile state contexts, such as Timor-Leste. It will suit researchers, policy makers and NGOs with an interest in policy, economics, gender and development.

In Sierra Leone, the dominant epistemological frames of the political and social history of the country and the post-colonial understanding of the place of men and women, are conditioned on the inter-subjective discourses of power, place, identities and belongingness. These have exposed the gendered uncertainties in people's lives.

Good governance is an index of human development. What constitutes good governance is holistic and gender issues are key components in the formation and practice of governance. In pre-colonial Africa, governance is inclusive of men and women. In the pre-colonial era, it could be argued that women had spheres of power and powerlessness. In most post-colonial societies of Africa, it is a rarity to accord women positions in government. Yet, the United Nations Conferences held in Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985), Beijing (1995) and New York (2000), all had drafts and resolutions to change inequalities and vulnerabilities women encounter in public and private spaces. What are the issues to understand in the inclusion or exclusion of women in governance of African states and societies? This book explicates the experiential issues in gender, politics and governance. The 'known' are the stereotypes accorded to women as weak and unfit to take strategic roles in public life. Scholars across disciplines have debunked this perception. The known constantly linger in perpetuity because the development plans of African states fail to understand what it takes to have women empowered in all ramifications.