Women of Sierra Leone

            All around the world women are treated differently; some are looked upon as almost equal and have a lot of the same rights as men like in the United States. But some women are very unfortunate and rarely granted any of the privileges that men receive while also being treated in extreme inhuman ways. Sierra Leone is a country where the women are treated poorly and often times taken advantage of. This paper first gives basic background information on Sierra Leone as a country following by more in depth discussions of the violence these women frequently are burdened with as well as how differently they are treated when compared to the men of their country.

  The country of Sierra Leone is located on the west coast of Africa in the Sub-Saharan region, it shares a border with two other countries, Liberia to the south and southeast as well as Guinea to the north and northeast, and is touching the Atlantic Ocean to the west (CIA-The World Factbook, 2012). The size of this country is said to be around 27,699 square miles or it can be compared to being a little smaller than the state of South Carolina in the United States (Advameg, Inc, 2012). In July 2011, the population of Sierra Leone was estimated to be 5,363,669, consisting mostly of children and young-middle adulthood (CIA-The World Factbook, 2012). The capital Freetown is located right next to the third largest natural harbor in the world; this benefits Sierra Leone because it allows for the country to be the placed at the center of trade and colonial administration (Advameg, Inc, 2012). Besides being near the water trade opportunities, the land of Sierra Leone in some regions is used for agricultural purposes, the main one being that of growing rice (Advameg, Inc, 2012).

            A major issue that has not only negatively impacted the country of Sierra Leone but also its’ people as well is the Civil War that started in March 1991 and lasted for nearly a decade (Advameg, Inc, 2012). Not only did this war kill tens of thousands of individuals it also stirred up terrible actions brought onto women and young girls, these actions being of sexual violence and violence itself. These sexual acts were a mixture of sexual slavery, gang rape, and assault (Bogert, C., & Dufka, C., 2001). According to an article in The Lancet, “Human Rights Watch has documented cases of fathers being forced to watch the rape of their daughters, and middle-aged women being raped by boys as young as 11” (Bogert, C., & Dufka, C., 2001).

Even though the war is over in Sierra Leone, women are still becoming the victims of sexual abuse and violence every day. A women living in Sierra Leone named Musu is 23 years old and doesn’t want to have any more children because she has a hard time making ends meet the way it is and finds it difficult to provide food for her three children she already has, because she chooses to not have more children her husband beats and rapes her every day (Irin, 2007). Musu is not in a unique situation in the country of Sierra Leone, it is estimated that during the nine years that the Civil War took place around 250,000 women and girls were the victims of either rape, torture, or used as sex slaves (Irin, 2007). These victims of sexual abuse and assault can face serious and sometimes life threatening health related problems. It has been documented that some women have suffered health problems such as that of prolapsed uteruses, and extreme injuries to their vaginas from having foreign objects placed inside them (Bogert, C., & Dufka, C., 2001). Sexually transmitted disease like HIV/AIDS is a huge scare for many victims of rape in Sierra Leone, according to The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World, “in 2007 two-thirds of all HIV-positive people in the world are in the Sub-Saharan Africa: three-quarters of all worldwide AIDS deaths in 2007 occurred here” (Seager, 2009). Sierra Leone is also a popular country that supplies other countries throughout the world with women for sex trafficking (Seager, 2009). It seems as though women in this country are nothing more than a piece of meat in the eyes of society.

            Female genital mutilation (FGM) is widely practiced around the world, most popular in parts of Africa and the Middle East (Seager, 2009). In Sierra Leone, the act or practice of FGM to girls or women between the ages of 15-49 is almost a universal practice with 90% or more of these females being victims (Seager, 2009). There are four different types of FGM fluctuating from a clitoridectomy all the way to stitching the vagina completely closed only leaving a hole large enough for urine and menstrual flow (Gesellschaft & Zusammenarbeit, 2007). This torturous experience is used as a rite of passage for in females to mark the evolution from childhood into womanhood and it also is practiced because of men’s views towards the female sexuality in Sierra Leone (Gesellschaft & Zusammenarbeit, 2007). Often times the women that stand up for themselves or are against FGM run the risk of being humiliated by being mutilated right out in the open (Gesellschaft & Zusammenarbeit, 2007). Currently there are a handful of non-governmental organizations trying to make the public aware of all the poor safety and health issues FGM poses on women but unfortunately these organizations are far from reaching this goal (Gesellschaft & Zusammenarbeit, 2007). It is hard for NGOs to tackle this huge obstacle when individuals that holds political power in Sierra Leone advocate for the practice to continue and even pay for it to be done (Gesellschaft & Zusammenarbeit, 2007). Plan International is one organization who is trying to tackle this severe issue by using its’ Child Education Program to increase the awareness of the harmful effects of this practice while also backing up further studies to be done on the topic of FGM (Gesellschaft & Zusammenarbeit, 2007). Another local NGO known as Planned Parenthood Association of Sierra Leone (PPA-SL) has also made it their goal to not only stop FGM but all violence against women and young children by raising the flag on the serious health hazards that these victims face each and every day (Gesellschaft & Zusammenarbeit, 2007).

            The health of its people is also another concern for the country of Sierra Leone. The life in Sierra Leone is not ideal by any conditions; the country has one of the highest death rates in the world and 195 out of every 1,000 infants born die which makes Sierra Leone the country with the second highest infant mortality rate (Advameg, Inc, 2012). The life expectancy for the country as a whole is around 56.13 years, in more specificifity, men’s life expectancy is 53.69 years and women’s is 58.65 years (CIA-The World Factbook, 2012). Malaria plays a huge factor in on the low life expectancy rates seeing that it is Sierra Leone’s number one killer, to follow behind malaria is bloody diarrhea, tetanus, measles, schistosomiasis, and polio (Advameg, Inc, 2012).

Receiving good health care is difficult in this country because of the severe shortage of health care professionals. For the ratio of doctors to pregnant women to be more reasonable Sierra Leone would need about 54 gynecologists when the reality is that they only have 4, the same problem occurs with the low count of 2 pediatricians to see over five million patients (Nossiter, 2011). One positive aspect that has recently came up in Sierra Leone though is that the government last year has abolished fees and expenses for pregnant mothers which is a turn in the right direction, this action has allowed several hundreds of women to have safe child births with the help and care of doctors at hospitals rather than on at their home on their own (Nossiter, 2011). This program has therefore helped reduce the number of deaths in pregnant women or while going through childbirth while also lowering the rates of children with malaria (Nossiter, 2011). Before this program was in effect, it was estimated that in Sierra Leone 2,000 or more women per 100,000 live births died and that 50-74% of the births there was no doctor or health care professional present (Seager, 2009). Since the fees have been eliminated, according to Robert Yates, a senior health economist in Britain’s Department for International Development, “Sierra Leone has seen…a 61 percent decrease in mortality rates in difficult pregnancy cases at health clinics…” (Nossiter, 2011). Hopefully the free health care is one step in the right direction for the country of Sierra Leone.

            It seems as though the status of women in Sierra Leone follows the typical stereotype of women in a sense that the men hold all the power and the women are underneath them. According to the Gender Development Index which measures countries development based on literacy, life expectancy, and income, the women’s status of Sierra Leone falls within the bottom ten countries of the world (Seager, 2009). As an overall country, Sierra Leone’s literacy rate is a measly 35.1% and of those that are literate very few of them are women because of the fact that often times girls are denied the basic right of education (MASK, 2009). Not only are the women behind on education but they are also lagging in numerous essential skills which puts them at a low rate of 36.7% in the labor field compared to the 63.3% that are men (MASK, 2009). However, the one job that women dominate in is the informal retail sector because this profession does not require an individual to be literate or have a skill before applying (MASK, 2009). At home women are often times the gender responsible for the following duties: child care, cooking, cleaning, planting, harvesting, weeding, gathering wood to be used, and going to the market (Advameg, Inc, 2012). The men are said to do more of the “intense” work like clearing fields and plowing the swamp land, but in my opinion it doesn’t seem like the women have that much of a lighter load than the men (Advameg, Inc, 2012).

            When it comes to the topics of love, marriage, and families, Sierra Leone’s culture is not that much different than several other countries located in Africa. In the past most marriages taken place in Sierra Leone were arranged between two families when their children were still very young, but now in more recent years, the idea of “love” marriages where the two individuals are able to choose their own significant other, are becoming more popular (Advameg, Inc, 2012). Often times whether arranged or love marriages, the groom to be has to in a sense prove himself worthy of marrying the bride to the bride’s father. He does this by bringing the bride’s family gifts of money and expensive clothing, items that would show the father of the bride how honored he is to be receiving her hand in marriage (Advameg, Inc, 2012). In Sierra Leone the average age of a women at her first marriage is usually 20 years old or younger (Seager, 2009). And even though the times are changing and becoming more modern, it is still considered criminal in national law to be a lesbian or gay in Sierra Leone (Seager, 2009). It seems unfair that an individual’s sexual orientation can be reflected as illegal but that it is completely normal for other individuals in the same country to practice polygamy, the practice of a husband being allowed to having more than one wife at a time. In the households that are under this practice there is one woman who is referred to as the first or “senior” wife and she holds some degree of power over the other “junior” wives, she must teach or train the junior wives to become “good” wives (Advameg, Inc, 2012).

            The citizens of Sierra Leone value the presence of children. Having children gives these families more opportunities to earn money whether that is from more hands to help work around the property, more incoming cash coming in, or like mentioned above, fathers often times earn money or valuable treasures when giving his daughter away to be married (Advameg, Inc, 2012). Unlike the families in the more western countries who are as the years go by downsizing their families or the number of children in each household, Sierra Leone families are continuing to stay at the high rate of individuals per household. In a survey taken in 2006, the average number of people per household in Sierra Leone was 6 people or more (Seager, 2009). Also between the years of 2000-2005, the average women that lived in Sierra Leone had given birth to more than 6 children each (Seager, 2009). One of the reasons to why the average number of children per women is so high in this country is because the proportion of married women using “modern” contraception, such as IUDs, injectibles, oral contraceptives, and sterilization sits sadly at a low 10% or less (Seager, 2009). This low percentage could be because of a number of reasons ranging from the high cost of contraception in Third World countries to the limited availability. Another reason that could contribute to the high number of children per household is the fact that abortion in Sierra Leone is considered illegal with the exception to saving the life of the mother or her health or if the fetus’s health was said to be compromised (Seager, 2009). It’s actually very ironic that a country with such hardships would continue to increase the size of the average household.

            The women of Sierra Leone are treated very differently compared to the white women that live in the United States. The country as a whole is still facing the end of a terrible decade long Civil War and unfortunately the women are receiving the brunt of it by the violence that they collect everyday ranging from gang rapes to being exported as sex slaves to other various countries. As anyone can imagine, Sierra Leone is not an ideal place to live, not only all the violence directed toward women but also because the health care is extremely limited. Hopefully the abolishment of hospital fees for the pregnant women and young girls is a step in a more positive direction for this country. Optimistically, the women of this country will one day be viewed as equal individuals to men rather than just sought to raise the children and tend to the house; the women of Sierra Leone deserve to be treated as human beings as opposed to parasites that have no value in life.

Work Cited

Bogert, C., & Dufka, C. (2001). Sexual violence in Sierra Leone. Lancet, 357(9252), 304.

CIA-The World Factbook. (2012, January 17). Africa: Sierra leone. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sl.html

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit. (2007, November). Female genital mutilation in sierra leone. Retrieved from http://www.gtz.de/en/dokumente/en-fgm-countries-sierraleone.pdf

MASK Research Group. (2009). Education and women’s employment: A study. Retrieved from http://www.rocare.org/grants/2009/Education and Women Employment in Sierra Leone.pdf

Nossiter, A. (2011, July 18). In sierra leone, new hope for children and pregnant women. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/world/africa/18sierra.html?pagewanted=all

Our Partner IRIN. (2007, December 03). Sierra leone : The war is over but violence against women continues. Afrik-News. Retrieved from http://www.afrik-news.com/article12392.html

Seager, J. (2009). The penguin atlas of women in the world. (4th ed.). Brighton, UK: Penguin Group.