The Parliament of Sierra Leone has unanimously passed a law that provides for a minimum of 30 percent of its seats and one third of all local council seats to be held by women, and the measure has been submitted to the President, Julius Maada Bio, for ratification.
The Sierra Leonean Parliament has confirmed on its account on the social network Twitter that «the bill ‘Gender Equality and Women Empowerment 2022’ has been approved, while the Secretariat of the body has said that the law «awaits the approval of His Excellency the President.»
The bill has been approved nearly two decades after the measure was recommended by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and three years after the coming to power of Maada Bio, who had made this law one of his main promises.
Thus, all appointed positions, including government, departments, ambassadors and agencies, as well as elected positions, whether at the legislative level or in local councils, must include at least 30 percent women.
The law also provides for equal pay, 14 weeks maternity leave and equal access to training courses, according to the SwitSalone news portal. Currently only 19 of the 146 parliamentarians are women.
