According to the Interparliamentary Union (IPU), which keeps track of representation in national parliaments throughout the world, women currently make up 12 per cent of Sierra Leone’s Parliament.
The 28-member cabinet of President Julius Maada Bio, who took office in 2018, has four positions held by women.
The Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act was enacted into law on Thursday by President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone.
Its goal is to increase the proportion of women in the nation’s top positions, such as parliamentary seats and cabinet positions to 30 per cent.
The president added in his speech on Thursday that men have yet to see or acknowledge women’s true status fully, and this law will provide us the instruments to change that.
The president declared that “women who desire to hold public office and their supporters must not be undercut, belittled, intimated, or degraded.”
According to the United Nations’ 2020 Gender Development Index (GDI), Sierra Leone international ranking is 182nd out of 189 as regards to gender equality.