SIERRA-LEONE GALLOPS NIGERIA: SIGNS 30% AFFIRMATIVE ACTION INTO LAW
Writes Lady (Dr). Nkiru Celine Okoro November 17, 2022.
Sierra Leonean President, Dr. Julius Maada Bio yesterday in Freetown made history by signing into law, “The Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act 2022.
The ground-breaking Act seeks to address gender imbalances by providing
1. At least 30% Female Representation in Cabinet ( Appointive Positions,
2. At least 30% Female Representation in Parliament (Elective Positions);
3. At least 30% female representation in all Ambassadorial and High Commission appointments;
4. At least 30% Female representation in all Local councils, Civil Service, and Private institutions employing more than 25 persons.
The Act extended maternity leave for nursing mothers from 12 to 14 weeks; gender mainstreaming across sectoral policies and legal frameworks, and further recommends gender-responsive and gender-sensitive budgeting. The Act created a multi-sectoral Gender Steering Committee to oversee the implementation of the Act.
This historic and mind-blowing legislation sets Sierra- leone apart from other 16 countries in West Africa and 54 in Africa after Rwanda and South Africa.
As Nigeria prepares for the forthcoming 2023 general elections, civil society organizations, religious bodies, community and trade groups, and gender-focused organizations should use 30% – 35% affirmative action to negotiate votes from their constituencies. Candidates.
Nigeria ranks bottom of the ladder in the Africa Barometer index in female political participation last at 6% while Rwanda ranks highest as Africa’s No. 1 country in female political representation.
Recall that in March 2022, the Nigerian gender bill, that articulated a five-point agenda for Nigerian women was thrown out of the ninth National Assembly Constitution Amendment:
The reason why the gender bill failed to scale through the review process ranged from the patriarchal mindset, disdain for affirmative action, cultural and religious relativism, and ignorance of the impact of the gender bill on the overall development of the country.
Nigerian women’s gender agenda 2022 translated to the 2022 gender bill included the need for 35% affirmative action on all appointive and elective positions in the country’s governance structure, the concept of twinning that mandates alternate positions based on gender considerations such that if a Chairman of a local government is a woman, the vice automatically should be a man and vice versa.
Others include the recognition of indiginship for women who are married outside their communities and states to have the same and equal rights and recognition in the communities of their marriage equivalent to them, their rights of indiginship and the right of Nigerian women to transfer their nationality to their husbands in the same way Nigerian men transfer their rights of nationality to their foreign/non-Nigerian wives.
