Concord Times (Freetown)
Mariama Kandeh
10 December 2008
Freetown — It is becoming very clear that one of the reasons for the widespread of violence against women in developing countries and Sierra Leone in particularly is unemployment and lack of better jobs for women.
This makes women prone to many forms of abuse especially from their love ones who immediately become their financiers in the absence of a proper job or when unemployed.
A 2008 report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) revealed that decent jobs for women are an exception rather than the rule. With such a weak economic situation, there is little capacity for abused women to stand against abusive partners.
The ILO convention states that "universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based on social justice." This issue cropped up during the Sixth African Development Forum (ADF) held by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) under the theme "Action on gender equality, women's empowerment and ending violence against women."
This issue is very relevant to Sierra Leone wherein most wives suffer violence in the hands of their husbands due to their weak economic power. It is a long existing culture in Sierra Leone, that men should shoulder the responsibility of women. In a situation like this, many men consider the women as irrelevant and use them more as a tool than partners. Decisions regarding the welfare of the children and the development of the family will be taken without the wife's consent simply because the husband has considered her useless because of her lack of financial contributions. House wives and wives with low financial contributions to family well-being are mainly the sets that are constantly abused.
Many Sierra Leonean ladies wish for husbands that would take full care of them and in some cases even care for their families, little knowing that they are digging their own graves. Men naturally have little respect for wives with low financial contribution to their families. On the other hand many men think women should not go for higher education or higher positions. This ideology has very negative impact on women in that even in offices, they are always left at the bottom. They are deprived of opportunities that will enhance their promotions. In the political arena, the situation is not better. The number of female members of parliament in Sierra Leone reduced to 16 after the 2007 parliamentary elections while the number of women in the executive arm of government also dropped down considerably. Women's activists blamed the low number on lack of political parties' willingness to put women foreword, but the whole issue is based on the myth that men
should take care of women and as such women do not need proper jobs or jobs with higher salaries. It is common for men in Sierra Leone to ask an ambitious young lady the question, "You are a woman, what do you want to do with higher education or plenty money? Your future husband will take care of you. If your husband is wealthy, then you are wealthy" But is this always the case? The number of abuse dependant women are facing in marriages is immeasurable. Most highly educated men in Sierra Leone do not admire women that are highly educated or equally educated as them. Many men will tell you. "My wife should not be highly educated. She would be rude, pompous...." These are all mere myths that have no base but have been a major deterrent to women's progress in the labour sector in Sierra Leone.
"To achieve ADF's goal to empower women is by no means a small achievement and it would take tremendous measures that would involve assisting women to become more economically independent," explained Dr. Espérance Bayedila, seniour lecturer at the Institut Facultaire de Sciences de l'Information et de la Communication in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Women are good managers and an opportunity of them making their own money will not only be good for their spouses but also the country. It is very important for women to get a source of making money as it will help deter widespread violence against them. Men take advantage over women because they are the bread winners and sole source of income of the families.
According to Bayedila, "Over the years it has become very clear that women will withstand all forms of violence, even near death experiences, at the hands of the men in their lives primarily because they are not financially empowered to simply walk away." This is evident in communities in Sierra Leone wherein wife battering seems to be a custom. Some men do go to the extent of introducing their concubines to their wives especially so if the girl friend is rich and can be a source of income for the poor family. Many wives have accepted this dishonest act simply because they are poor and do not have voice in the home. Women in Sierra Leone form the bulk of the country's population and I believe if they become economically viable it will impact positively in the country's drowning economy.
Many women stay in violent situations because they are poor and cannot afford to raise their children on their own. This clearly signals the urgent demand for decent employment for Sierra Leonean women. However, according to the ILO, only few women in sub-Saharan Africa have decent jobs that can generate substantial earnings.
Granted that the female employment ratio in sub-Saharan Africa is second in the world to only East Asia, this should not be interpreted as an achievement, as that region is also one of the poorest in the world. Many women in Sierra Leone do not work because they are not empowered academically and professionally. They have no option but to do odd jobs in farms in the interior of the country with very minimal dividend at the end of the day due to poor management schemes. Those who work in big towns receive salaries hardly enough to put food on their tables and are sometimes met with the daily harassment by some wicked male bosses who push sex for promotions and salary increments.
The ILO further revealed that young women in Sub-Saharan Africa immerse themselves in poor quality jobs to earn the little money they can get to support their families, rather than stay in schools and pursue their education. In Sierra Leone, many young girls turn to prostitution in order to support their families. There is a high unemployment rate and the standard of living in the country is high, compounded by the global financial crisis, young women in Sierra Leone are finding it more difficult to eke out a living. Commercial sex workers could not salvage their problems in such harsh financial times.
It is only a woman who has the kind of options that a decent employment gives, that can stand up to an abusive husband and say enough is enough.
It is almost 30 years since the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women (CEDAW) was signed at the UN. It took almost three decades before it could be domesticated in our law books. It is just over a year since the three gender bills were enacted by the Parliament of Sierra Leone. Numerous forums to promote this noble course have been held but the outcomes are nothing to right home about.
The high rate of economic dependency on men will keep women within the jaws of violence and Sierra Leonean women will continue to be vulnerable, thus victims of the most grotesque degrees of violence . In this regard, there is a need to look into unemployment based on gender parity if the fight against gender based violence is to be achieved.
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