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Periodical issue Periodical issue Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The politics of women's empowerment in post-war Sierra Leone: contradictions, successes, and challenges
Editor:Lumumba-Kasongo, TukumbiISNI
Year:2015
Periodical:African and Asian Studies (ISSN 1569-2094)
Volume:14
Issue:1-2
Pages:1-153
Language:English
City of publisher:Leiden
Publisher:Brill
Geographic term:Sierra Leone
Subjects:empowerment
women
women rulers
women parliamentarians
External link:https://brill.com/view/journals/aas/14/1-2/aas.14.issue-1-2.xml
Abstract:The contributors of this special issue explore the multi-faceted question of women's empowerment in post-war Sierra Leone. Like other post-war countries, analyses of women's suffering point to women's social and economic marginalization as one of the root causes for the adverse ways in which women were affected by the conflict. Twelve years following civil conflict that raged between 1991 and 2002, the country has recorded numerous developments including three largely peaceful competitive elections and the successful conclusion of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Special Court. There have also been some positive advances in terms of gender and development, which include adoption of the three Gender Acts (Domestic Violence Act, Registration of Customary Marriage and Divorce, and Devolution of Estate Act) in 2007, to protect the human rights of women; the Local Government Act of 2004, to ensure a minimum of 50 percent representation of women in Ward Committees; and the implementation of a national action plan to integrate UN Security Council Resolution 1325 domestically (SILNAP). In addition, there has been some limited representation at both local and national levels, and a few cabinet appointments. However, unlike other post-war African countries, Sierra Leone has been unable to pass a bill establishing a thirty percent threshold for women's representation, despite concerted efforts in this direction. Contributions: Women chiefs and post war reconstruction in Sierra Leone (Lynda R. Day); Locating the informal in the formal? Traditional birth attendants and the free health care initiative in post war Sierra Leone (Fredanna M. McGough); Whose seat will become reserved? The 30% quota campaign in Sierra Leone (Aisha Fofana Ibrahim); Going beyond numbers reframing substantive representation of women parliamentarians in Post-War Sierra Leone (Fredline A. O. M'Cormack-Hale); UNHCR's gender policy for refugees and returnees in Sierra Leone: enhancing well-being or promoting political agency? (Claudena Skran). [ASC Leiden abstract]
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