By: Aruna Kamara (BO)
Stakeholders including women in Kakua Chiefdom in Bo District have held a fruitful focus discussion on stopping Verbal Insults against women.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the discussion Wednesday in Bo, the Deputy Regional Media Officer of the Sierra Leone Police, Police Constable Alhaji Osman Mansaray said that verbal insult against women is a crime punishable by law but is not regularly reported to the police.
Mr. Mansaray encouraged the women to come out to report any case of verbal insult against them as the police will investigate and charge the matter in court.
He commended Protect Her for creating the platform to discuss verbal insults against public-facing women and encouraged the organization to continue to raise awareness against the offence so that people will stop committing the offence against women.
Ambassador Evelyn Konya Turay, who represented Mano River Women Peace Network said that verbal insult against women starts at home but is not most times treated with seriousness and when women grow up it is taken as something part of the society but this should stop.
Suzan Sarah Koiwa, a staunch gender activist
said that “women should be treated with respect and dignity when facing the public and the time is now coming when women are going to face the public asking them to support women in politics.
She said it is good that such a platform is created to raise awareness around verbal abuse facing public-facing women so that it will stop for a safe space to be created for women.
The Executive Director of Protect Her Sierra Leone, Beatrice Sao Bundor re-echoed that her organization has received support from Internews to implement a project titled: Stopping Verbal Insults against the public –facing women in Kakua Chiefdom in Bo District, Southern Sierra Leone.
According to Madam Bundor, a recent survey conducted by the Sierra Leone Association of Women in Journalism indicated that verbal insults are regarded as one of the threats faced by public-facing women including women leaders, women human rights defenders and women journalists in Sierra Leone, which tend to push women out of the public space or censor their voices.
She said that Protect Her Sierra Leone brought women together who are key decision makers and influencers in Kakua in Bo City to discuss the said threat and proffer practical steps to addressing the said barrier that tends to push women out of public space or censor their voices.
Madam Bundor commended the stakeholders who turned out in large numbers for the focused group discussion to stop the menace against the women.