More and more women are filling the seats in Sierra Leone’s parliament. In the parliamentary elections in June, the incumbent president, Julius Maada Bio, was re-elected, and this time with twice as many women by his side. Today, women occupy 30 percent of the seats in the parliament in Sierra Leone, and that is a doubling of the previous 15 percent. – This primarily means that if you, as a woman, want to get into politics, you have much better chances now, says Zeina Hilal. She is head of the Gender Equality Program at the Inter-Parliamentary Union, IPU, a global organization working for democracy in national parliaments. – It is also a big step to ensure a wider representation in Sierra Leone. Now there is really something to build on, because the real goal is equality, she says. Gender equality in Sierra Leone has progressed over the past year. Women can now own property and a comprehensive law was passed at the beginning of the year to strengthen equality in the country. Among other things, this law contained a quota that a minimum of 30 per cent of each gender should be represented in parliament – this has now become reality. – You have managed to get so many women elected because there is political will. Many countries have similar laws, but not all enforce them, says Zeina Hilal. During the last decade, there was almost three times greater development in countries with women in leadership positions than in countries without, according to the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP. – A democracy is based on people from different social groups in a parliament, so the whole people is represented, says Zeina Hilal. Women’s votes in parliaments In concrete terms, this means that parties wishing to stand for election must have at least 30 per cent women represented on their list of candidates. If they do not, the party is not approved to stand for election by the electoral commission in the country. – In this way, both men and women must fight for both sexes to be represented, says Zeina Hilal. Another measure to lower the barrier to standing in the parliamentary elections is to lower the price of the actual fee you have to pay to stand. Many different organizations have worked to create more equality in Sierra Leone. Since 2014, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and Sierra Leone’s parliament have worked together to get more women in parliament. At the same time, Zeina Hilal explains that they have also worked to change the social tradition of female circumcision in the country. – It is one of the problems that women in parliament can help to change, because they get a voice in the public and can look after women’s needs and interests, she says. Furthermore, she explains that the Inter-Parliamentary Union has also held workshops in parliament. They have led discussions about why it is important to increase women’s participation in democracy, and advised women who have stood up. At the same time, they have created connections between female parliamentarians in other neighboring countries so that they can exchange experiences. – We work in different ways, but always with transparency about what needs are there, says Zeina Hilal. Quotas are effective The Inter-Parliamentary Union works in many countries around the world to increase women’s participation in democracy – and they are champions of quotas. In the West African country of Benin, the country’s constitution was revised three years ago, to get more women into parliament. At the time, 24 out of 109 seats in parliament were reserved for women with the support of, among others, the Inter-Parliamentary Union. All those seats are currently filled by women and make up 26 percent of the parliament in Benin. At the beginning of the year, there were also elections in Nigeria, where the Inter-Parliamentary Union has also worked to get more women in parliament. The country has not introduced quotas, and after the election it was clear that only a small proportion was elected. – Although most of the Nigerian population was of the opinion that change was necessary at this point, it was not possible. The results were very disappointing, but the government did not have any quotas, which we know work, says Zeina Hilal. But quotas are not the only way to more equality. For example, countries such as Turkey have had no quotas for how many women should sit in parliament, and yet the number is rising slowly. – It may well be possible to do without quotas. It’s really just a question of how long it will take, says Zeina Hilal. Because in countries where they introduce quotas, we see that it works and equality is gaining momentum, she says. It is worth celebrating that there are now far more women in parliament than before the election, but there is still a long way to go to achieve equality in Sierra Leone. – Now we have achieved an equality goal, says Zeina Hilal. So now there is a pride and determination to achieve even more.
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New equality law works: The number of women has doubled in Sierra Leone’s parliament
