The Sierra Leone Association of Women in Journalism (SLAWIJ) has championed the campaign against ‘Violence against Women in Elections’.
SLAWIJ’s Executive President, Millicent Kargbo said: “The June 24, 2023 election is critical for women in Sierra Leone as the Gender Equality Act Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) Act 2022 promotes women’s political participation among others.
“Keen attention must be paid to election violence, especially against women. SLAWIJ together with our partners have join the call to stop violence against women before, during and after elections”.
In similar development, Mrs. Kargbo joined other high-profile personalities including the President/CEO of Internews, Jeanne Bourgalt in an interactive panel discussion hosted by the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues at the State’s Department in Washington DC.
She said even though the contexts might be different according to region, women journalists across nations face similar challenges, ranging from underrepresentation in the media, not too many women in leadership positions, sexual harassment, unequal pay and online violence, among other issues.
“Key solutions that the panelists recommended include; building structures that will work to create that change, apply pressure on states to focus and support women in the news industry, work with digital companies to stop online violence against women in media.” Mrs. Kargbo said.
Dr. Geeta R. Gupta, Ambassador-at-Large, U.S Department of State said: “We need to amplify and shine the spotlight on all that women do. There is need to change the power imbalance. Online violence and threats against women can lead to self-sponsorship. Technology facilitated gender-based violence has become a problem for women”.
Representative of Superintendent Sylvester Morie Kpovowa, Local Unit Commander of the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) in Waterloo said women mostly suffer when violence occurs despite, they play a great role in promoting peace. He pledged support to promote peace and security for women.
Executive Director for Campaign for Good Governance (CGG), Marcella Samba-Sesay said women journalists should play a vital role to push the barriers.
She encouraged women journalists to change the dynamics of what makes the news when it comes to women as sometimes women have priority in the news when they are victims of a bad situation.
