In some ways, things are improving for women in Sierra Leone. More women are in positions of power and leadership than ever before.
However, there is still a long way to go for the average woman, especially in rural areas.
One major area is work. This was really emphasized in a small group activity I observed at a gender sensitization workshop. Each group was assigned a person (man, woman, boy and girl) and had to write down all the activities that person typically did in a day.
The contrast between the lists for men and women, and even for girls and boys was significant. Although many men do hard physical labour during the day, once their workday is finished, they don’t have much else to do.
All of the responsibility for domestic work and caring for children falls to women. Women are responsible for cleaning, laundry, food preparation, childcare and collecting water and wood for everyone’s use. They work on the farm, do weeding and harvesting.
Sharing the burden of work is important to move forward, but the gender inequality goes deeper than just the surface work tasks.
Women are generally not treated as equals, especially in areas where people are poor and relatively uneducated. The man is the head of the household. He makes the decisions, controls the money, and in turn is responsible for taking care of his wife and children.
There is a lot of work to be done to improve gender equality in the country.
Will one or two workshops change societal attitudes? No, certainly not. But societal change happens slowly over time, and the more people are exposed to the idea of men and women being equal, the better.
So even small things, like a workshop, can help a little bit.