program coordinator at YMCA Sierra Leone – that delivers training in livelihood skills such as tailoring, catering, and masonry, as well as training on gender equity, peace- building and conflict resolution – interviewed a young female Sierra Leonean program beneficiary who said: “Now ar don learn dis skill...man nor go bluff pan me”, meaning no man would ever dominate/dictate to her as she has acquired livelihood skill which would enable her to make a living for herself. In summary, in modern Sierra Leone there is a marked


shift from traditional ideas about women and their role in society, and women are now competing for top-ranking positions. Increased awareness of and attention to improving gender equality in Sierra Leone can be traced back to the responses uniquely developed by women to cope with a horrific civil war (through active resistance), experiences they lived in other countries where the women’s rights movements was stronger (such as Ghana) and as well as training and education promoting women’s rights and gender equality, to which Sierra Leonean women were exposed through the programming of local and international NGOs delivering humanitarian and development assistance after the civil war.


// Peter Kugba-Nyande is a graduate student of Development Studies and Environmental Studies at the University of Toronto


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and has served as a Youth Entrepreneurship Coordinator Intern - YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka in Sierra Leone (YMCA Sierra Leone).


1A piece of cloth that African women wear around their waist. It


reinforces femininity in Sierra Leone and makes women vulnerable by restricting swift movement. Traditional African women rarely used shorts or pants as these type of clothing were deemed manly. 2


A Sierra Leonean women’s organization founded in 2000 to


promote greater participation of women in politics. 3


Bintumani 1 (1995), Bintumani 11 (1996), Two national


consultative conferences involving active women’s group participation to set up the agenda for elections and the peace process.


Amoaku-Agyei, Erika. (2011). Ghana’s First Female President?


Africa Business Review. Adapted from: http://africabusinessreview. net/ghanas-first-female-president-nana-konadu-agy


Human Rights Watch. (1999). “Sierra Leone: Getting Away


with Murder, Mutilation, and Rape.” New York: Human Rights Watch


Poku, Nana. (2011). State Offers Lessons for Sierra Leone in


Women Empowerment. AllAfrica Global Media. Adapted from: http://allafrica.com/stories/201109091444.html


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