By: James Kamara-Manneh
The Minister of Gender and Children’s Affairs, Madam Manty Tarawallie in an exclusive interview intimated this medium that on her visit to Hungary together with President Bio, she realizes that he was highly recognized by international bodies and reputable world leaders for his strong stance and policies on gender issues.
She said at the United Nations General Assembly she was invited to speak in two huge invents that were organized by UNFPA on bodily autonomy and another was organized by the European Union together with the Belgium government based on sexual violence.
Madam Tarawallie said she was impressed by the recognition the country is enjoying under the astute leadership of President Julius Maada Bio.
She expressed that the way the country is celebrated and complemented cannot easily be recognized back home.
“This is because of the leadership of our President which is so appreciated internationally based on the following reasons; his leadership style, bold decisions taken in supporting education and the intentional steps to push gender and the policy environment,” the Minister said.
In the area of the policy environment, the Minister clearly stated that it is based on the manner of approach which is aimed at initiating a strong policy environment.
Firstly, she affirms that in the area of bodily autonomy it is the right of every female to protecting her body parts and to decide with regards oneself.
She said at the program she spoke about the women’s gender empowerment policies of Sierra Leone launched by President Bio in 2021.
“Another focus was on the gender mainstreaming activities that are enabling gender rights to be integrated into every policy in Sierra Leone, which has brought tremendous results”, the Minister noted.
The Minister boldly said under the new direction government women can be land owners, and inherit land in any part of the country with no restrictions. She also revealed that for the first time in Sierra Leone, mining companies on an annual basis would have to conduct a social impact assessment on the work of women and children and to further take action as to how to remedy the situation.
She also mentioned that for the first time the country has adopted gender-responsive budgeting which will come into being in 2023.
According to her; this will aid the Ministry to be able to track the amount of money being spent in pushing the policies on gender issues.
The Minister opined that the conference focuses on sexual violence and the empowerment of women; on the issue of sexual violence the focus is on prevention and response.
In preventing sexual violence, the Minister’s key issues were considered.
Firstly, integrating sex education in the school curriculum across the country and the aged (men and boys) are thought gender rights.
She stated that with such education, it will help pupils to know what indecent touching is about, grooming and the rights of girls worldwide.
Next, the male involvement strategy was another area that was considered. The male involvement strategy abuses men and boys’ gender rights. To curb this menace the ministry has trained youth leaders to advocate for gender rights in various communities.
While on the area of responsibility, the Minister continued that the government has established a free rape line 116 and one-stop centres across the entire country to provide free service to victims of rape, psycho-social support, medicine, legal assistance (the newly established sexual offences court) and a safe home.
Madam Tarawally hints at girls exposing their body parts on social media as according to her, that’s were empowerment comes into play. She said the ministry and the government are working hard to change the mindset of women and girls to understand the real meaning of empowerment.
She said the area of prevention by women and girls is of serious concern to the government and that helps in sensitizing both boys and men from committing a rape offence.
“Preventing the offence is much cheaper as a sort of option than waiting until it happens which will cause expenses to the government in procuring forensic labs and doing psycho-social support and can also cause an economic drain to the country”, she explains.
Therefore, she called on all to prevent the situation from happening.