Fifty emerging female leaders have been trained leadership qualities in Freetown.
At the training, Sierra Leone’s Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Dr. Abass Chernor Bundu described the training as being “gender empowerment event that is geared towards enhancing the skills of the women in leadership and public speaking”.
He said the move is a call to duty that is predicted on promoting gender parity in Sierra Leone, adding: “Women like men are destined to be equal to men and in the not-too-distant future, women would be in front to champion development in their communities”.
The Speaker assured that the Parliament of Sierra Leone has taken giant steps to promote gender parity through the elevation of a woman as the Director General of the Parliament of Sierra Leone. He said they have a solid plan to promote women to management positions with the view of advancing the corporate agenda of Parliament.
The Rt. Hon. Speaker spoke on the five elements of the Strategic Plan of Parliament and assured that the promotion of gender issues would be the core mandate of the Parliament of Sierra Leone.
He also spoke on the enactment of the Gender Act to promote gender equality in Sierra Leone, the Gender Policy of Parliament and the recent promotion of three female staff as Deputy Directors to the Management of the Parliament of Sierra Leone.
The Speaker went on to highlight the importance of the fifty selected female staff regarding their roles and responsibilities in the one-year gender programme which Parliament has started to rollout with the view of promoting and strengthening gender parity in and out of Parliament.
Senior Gender Officer in Parliament, Juliana M. Sheku said the meeting is geared towards improving gender parity in society and appreciated the Leadership of Parliament for supporting the programme.
Parliamentary Female Caucus member, Hon. Rugiatu R. Kanu said gender equality has to be promoted in the work environment. She commended the Leadership and the Administration of Parliament for promoting gender equality in the Parliament of Sierra Leone, and added that the training would promote gender mainstreaming in the workplace.
She encouraged the fifty female staff to be bold in public speaking by reading novels, practicing, and capacity building. “This is the time to empower female staff with managerial skills”, she emphasised.
