麻豆社

An ambitious new law has come into force in Sierra Leone designed to radically improve the prospects of women. After 13 months of scrutiny by parliamentarians, Sierra Leone's President Julius Maada Bio signed into law the Gender Equality and Women鈥檚 Empowerment Act (GEWE) which contains a wide range of measures designed to protect the rights of women.

These include the legal requirement for all designated private and public organisations to ensure at least 30% of their workforce is female. This ratio must be maintained across all levels within the organisations with GEWE explicitly stating that 30% of those in leadership or decision-making roles must be women.

GEWE is particularly focused on the government and public offices where women have traditionally been underrepresented.

Manty Tarawalli, Minister of Gender and Children's Affairs who has been campaigning to see this change happen says the law is something women have been crying out for for years and it is something that will change the status quo and allow women to effectively contribute to the economy.

(Photo: Yongoro, Sierra Leone. Credit: Getty Images)

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