By Alieu Amara Suwu
Gender inequality in the justice sector persists as women continue to face disparities in representation at senior positions and pay scales, with many encountering obstacles related to gender bias and work-life balance. Despite advancements, the glass ceiling and gender-based discrimination remain significant challenges within the field, especially at the magistrate courts level.
How is the justice sector doing with gender equity? Especially women remain disadvantaged in many public and private areas of their lives; underrepresented in the judiciary, in Parliament, and in senior positions across a range of jobs; and there is still a substantial pay gap between men and women.
Based on these issues, the Legal Access through Women Yearning for Equality Rights and Social Justice (L.A.W.Y.E.R.S.) embarked on a gender diagnostic study (mainly focused on magistrate courts in Sierra Leone) under the project Gender Equality and Rights in the Justice Sector (GEAR), which led to a two-day training of magistrate courts judges, registrars, and supporting staff on gender mainstreaming and the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act, 2022 (GEWE). Other implementers of the project are the Justice Coordination Office and the Carter Center (the funder). The training was held on the 29 and 30 of July at the New Brookfields Hotel in Freetown.
The diagnostic survey report revealed that there are currently only seven female magistrate court judges out of 34 in the country, which is below the 30% required by the GEWE Act. The report also captured gender imbalances in the physical environment of magistrate courts. For instance, unbalanced imagery, gender segregation restrooms, and other facilities.
Out of ten recommendations made, five key ones are outstanding: to develop a guiding document to operationalize the GEWE Act, to integrate gender mainstreaming strategically in magistrate courts and the Judiciary; to provide training on gender bias, gender equity, and gender equality for all staff levels across all magistrate courts, regardless of the number of staff in the court or location; to improve monitoring and evaluation systems to ensure the magistrate courts collect adequate gender-disaggregated data to inform overall decision-making; to develop clear objective procedures for job recruitment, promotion, and advancement in the magistrate courts; and to review financial resources allocated to the Judiciary and magistrate courts to ensure they account for activities and actions oriented to address gender bias and promote gender equity.
The facilitator, Ibrahim Kamara, Director of Policy and Strategic Planning in the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs, explained that, in Sierra Leone, women constitute approximately 52% of the population. He, however, said, like most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Sierra Leone is a typically male-dominated society characterized by disproportionate representation of women in political and public decision-making bodies. He added that this is not withstanding the fact that generations of women’s rights campaigners have raised awareness and advocated for the minimum 30% gender parity prescribed in the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action, among others.
He said the passage of the GEWE Act in 2022 was ground-breaking and the culmination of several decades of advocacy for gender parity, especially in political and public decision-making bodies.
On the mainstreaming approach to GEWE implementation, he said the GEWE Policy, 2020, defines a mainstreaming approach to GEWE by providing for the assignment of gender focal persons across all sectors of government. This, he said, was further reinforced in the GEWE Act, 2022, which inter alia provides for the establishment of gender units within the planning directorates of MDAs.
“The Gender Units are primarily tasked with the responsibility to integrate gender demands into sectorial legal frameworks, policies, strategies, and action plans,” he said.
He said in the last few years, a number of legislations have been passed that reinforce and align with provisions in the GEWE Policy and Act. This includes the Public Elections Act 2022, which guarantees minimum 30 percent female candidates for all public elections. He added that the law provides that for every 3 candidates nominated for public elections, at least one must be a woman, and the provision was effectively applied in the 2023 general elections.
Others, he said, are the Customary Land Rights Act, 2022, which, inter alia, provides for equal opportunity for appointment for membership in land committees in the provinces; minimum 30% representation of women in land committees; adequate protection and respect for the rights of women; and the PPRC Act 2022, which provides for 30% female representation in leadership of political parties.
Dr. Fatmata Taqi presented on gender issues, comparing and contrasting various institutions and how to advocate for possible reforms to promote gender diversity and equality.
It was all climaxed by comments, questions, and responses.
