Gender Differences In Sierra Leone

Although African women continue to make solid progress in becoming part of the political scene, there are limitations associated with this progress. More African women are beginning to enter the political landscape and are making great strides in influencing policies that favors the advancement of women.

In the world today, women have a say in what they want to do and things that they desire to do. Back in the day, before the 1800’s, women had to be submissive to their male counterparts and do according to what was required of them. In the end, this led to the demeaning of the woman and the concept that women were inferior to men. Even though this concept and perception changed, there have been some countries and regions of the world that have not yet recognized the equality that women deserve. Such areas do not allow women to vote, attend school, have a say in the community, and the women are at the mercy of their husbands, fathers or male superiors (Hartmann, Susan M).

What was the most underrepresented social group in the elected assemblies of the world? whether is the minority ethnic, religious groups or the poor? According to Putman’s statistic, the answer was “women”. (Putnam 1976 cited in Megyery 1991) Statistics have shown that although women around the globe occupy more than one half of the population, very small proportion become political elite. Different from what women have encountered, man tends to dominate many spheres in life which includes electoral politics. Such gender disparity happens everywhere not just in Canada. Ever since Canadian women suffrage and the right to candidacy was achieved, they have made a couple strides in political arena, yet not as many as they wish with the existence of electoral glass ceiling standing

Numerous systemic barriers are preventing women from entering the political workforce including (but no limited to): family, the brutality of politics, male domination, stereotypes and traditionalism. Family plays probably the most important role in women’s decision-making on whether to enter politics.

The most adequate of women are being scared away from the political race because of the sexist attacks against women in government. The most suitable women look at past candidates and witness the attacks on them and choose to avoid the political

In reality, however, women are equally and in some ways more qualified to hold leadership positions than men. Although there is no single explanation for why women are underrepresented in politics, the gender gap in the political arena stems from the lack of female participation in elections as women are often discouraged or feel threatened by society to run for political office. Young women who aspire a career in politics encounter both structural and emotional barriers, which prevent them from running for political office. Women battle issues of self-confidence, face stereotypes, and derive false perceptions of political campaigns, all of which broaden the gender gap in the political

Some people believe women are not socialized in a way that prepares them to hold political powers. Some view politics as a masculine domain. This is a gender stereotype. It is the public’s perception that women cannot make a difference in politics which is often influenced by the

When women try to prove what they can do in the society, they are obstructed with societal stereotyping. In the world of politics, it is rare to see a woman hold a post of any political division. The capabilities that women are able to do has always been overlooked by the society and as a result, women, not just in the Canadian politics, but all over the world, have had begun changing these general views towards them. Actions had been taken,

However, initially men, as well as some women, closed the debate. “ The emergence of party politics profoundly changed the nation’s political culture, and with it, the meaning of women’s political participation” (Zagarri, page 93). Political parties were formed and within these parties women were given a voice and with that voice women would have the ability to form opinions with which to oppose men therefore the political parties were seen to be divisive and promptly closed off to women. In spite of the persistent modes of prevention put in place there remained some progression with every regression. “Women’s presence at the polls was not just a negative sanction; it was also a positive expression of the degree to which they understood the men’s franchise to be a new political opportunity for themselves as as well as their children” (Brown, page

“Women belong in the private sphere. Men belong in the public sphere. Attempting to mix these two worlds is difficult.” (Zamfirache 2010:177). It is a woman’s duty to focus on her family. It is a man’s job to focus on his career. “Boys are told that they can become president one day; the best girls can hope for is to grow up to marry a man who one day may be president” (Renzetti, Curran, Maier 2012: 313). Adolescents are lead to believe that politics is a male-dominated institution, that there is no room for women in this arena.

Reserve the few important portfolios for the women-------- female ministers are typically given ‘feminine’ portfolios, such as education, health, social welfare or environment. Moreover, governments do not consider gender equality as a priority, gender equality issues are missing from the budgeting process, and women are not present in the financial, peace, and international negotiations, structures and delegations. The participation of a proportion of women in government in all levels should be established as one of the rules of democracy. All governments should thus include a proportion of women. Men and women alike are fitted to hold government

Society sees men with the traits that display more stronger and dominant attitudes that is left women to be in the shadow. Women having a lower income compared to men are not because they work fewer hours, and it is not because they have a lower education level as well (Grant). This shows patriarchy where it revolves around a power system that is organized around the dominance of men. “Even with all of these factors are considered, the result remains the same: a wage gap” (Grant). During the election, it was shown that the majority of the elected members were men (Taber). The results were that 88 out of 338 MPs have been elected into the federal office (Taber), which shows that society does not give many women the opportunity to be

When Sylvia Bashevkin wrote “ the higher, the fewer” it was to indicate a pattern in women's political participation. The number of women in politics drops as one moves upward to the upper tiers of government, federal or provincial. The gap between the number of women involved in politics to the number of women in the country is still too wide. Over half the population is female and yet less than 25% were Members of Parliament in 2011. As of 2016 only 31% of senators were female. This gap highlights the need to continue to pursue the feminist movement.

New Zealand was the first country to give women the right to vote in 1893, however, since then we have dropped to 27th when it comes to gender representation in government, out of 188 countries. One of the many reasons as to why women are under represented in parliament can be linked to the issue of the political obstacles that face women. This is when they want to be in parliament, women whom are in parliament, and the many women who this is not an option for due to lack of opportunity. Women have to face this “masculine model” of politics and government. Men are dominant in parliament, meaning that political life revolves around male norms and values (Shvedova). This can be extended, politics is very much about competition and confrontation. Rather than politics being

From unprecedented population ageing to increasing unemployment, from global leadership imbalances to persisting conflicts, from resource scarcity to volatile global food supplies, the world faces a series of interconnected challenges. The Global Agenda Council on Women’s Empowerment aims to highlight how women’s empowerment is a part of the solutions to these challenges. (World Economic Forum 3)