Stay up-to-date with Trócaire's work overseas, get news on key global social justice issues, and find out about our latest campaigns in Ireland and how you can get involved.
Dumbuya became the first female councillor to be elected in her district in 2004. The trailblazer is now running to become the first female in her district to be elected a MP, but her political aspirations don’t stop there
Isata Sesay, Hawa Dumbuya and Menunata Nallo from Kambia District in Sierra Leone who are running for political positions in the June 2023 election. Photo: Tolu J. Bade/Trócaire
“I want young girls in my community to look at me and see that we can be leaders,” says Hawa Dumbuya (51) as she kicks off her leadership race to be the first female Member of Parliament (MP) for the Kambia District in northern Sierra Leone.
In 2004, Dumbuya, who worked as a teacher for 15 years, broke through the barriers facing women in politics in Sierra Leone to become the first elected female councillor in her district. She was re-elected by her community three times.
“It was very challenging,” Dumbuya says. “There are many barriers for women such as deeply embedded gender norms, lack of funding and an exclusion from political spaces. Our biggest barrier in politics is the men.”
Dumbuya is running for MP with the opposition All People’s Congress party in the general election on June 24th. She hopes a new groundbreaking Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) Act will break through some of the barriers women face in politics.
In November 2022, the GEWE Act was passed, stating that 30 percent of candidates on party ballots must be women in local and national elections. Currently, just 13 percent of politicians in parliament in Sierra Leone are women. Local and national elections are to be held in Sierra Leone in June 2023.
Veronica Sesay, SLPP MP and Chair of the Women’s Caucus in Sierra Leone’s Parliament with the GEWE ACT 2023. Ms Sesay was instrumental in the passing of the Act. Photo: Tolu J. Bade/Trócaire
The Act also provided for access by women to finance, extended maternity leave, equal pay and stipulated a 30 percent female quota of staff in private companies with more than 25 employees.
Signing the bill into law, President Julius Maada Bio said: “Empowering women is essential to the health and social development of families, communities and countries. Women can reach their full potential when they live safe, fulfilled, productive lives. The future of Sierra Leone is female.”
The Act has been hailed by campaigners as “monumental” for the women of Sierra Leone who are routinely discriminated against and at risk of gender-based violence. Sierra Leone was ranked 182nd out of 189 countries on the UN’s 2020 Gender Development Index. One in 20 Sierra Leonean women will die as a result of pregnancy or childbirth, according to the UN.
Emilia Kamara Jengo, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Trócaire partner Women’s Forum for Human Rights and Democracy (WOFHRAD), says the GEWE Act will get more women into politics.
Trócaire partners Mariama Alice Kamara, Project Officer at NMJD and Emilia Kamara Jengo, Executive Director and Co-Founder of WOFHRAD. Photo: Tolu J. Bade/Trócaire
With funding from Irish Aid, Trócaire and partners (Campaign for Good Governance, Association for the Wellbeing of Rural Communities and Development, Women’s Forum for Human Rights and Democracy, Social Enterprise Development, Network Movement for Justice and Development) have been campaigning for the passing of the GEWE Act for the past four years and have worked closely with members of parliament to draft the law.
The organisations also trained women to become empowered and know their political rights and developed an election manifesto to support women who are running for election.
“The GEWE Act will succeed in getting more women into politics because it is law. It is in black and white that 30 percent of all seats should go to women,” Jengo says.
“We are seeing women who are teachers and nurses coming out in droves to help make their community better by focusing on roads, healthcare and poverty rates. The women of Sierra Leone are empowered. They are ready.”
Sudie Sellu, Trócaire’s Women’s Empowerment Officer in Sierra Leone says that while women are putting themselves forward for election, they may not be elected.
“The election will be based on proportional representation for the first time since 1996. The Act only makes it mandatory for political parties to nominate a female candidate, not to choose one. We need nominations that will end up winning.”
Dumbuya hopes the GEWE Act will remove the barriers women face to enter politics in her district.
“When I became the first female councillor in my area, it was just me at the table with the men. The GEWE act will now state that seven of the 23 positions in my council will have to go to women. That is game changing for the women of Sierra Leone.”
Dumbuya says her district is very patriarchal and women are forbidden from attending many political spaces. She adds the training she received from Trócaire partner ABC helped her to respond to and overcome intimidation and abuses she received while working in politics.
“Our biggest barrier in politics is the men. The GEWE Act is about bringing the men and the women to the same space where they are equal and they make decisions together. When I was the only woman at the table, it was very hard to have a voice. I was marginalised and intimated by my male colleagues. With training from Trócaire and partner ABC, I know my political rights and have developed a thick skin to take on the men.”
Salamatu Osmatu Koroma, Mary Tarawalie, Alimatu H Kamara, Marion Fola Musu Kamara, Momunatu Fousad Kamara who are running for election in June 2023 in Western Area Rural, Sierra Leone. Photo: Tolu J. Bade/Trócaire
Dumbuya says that she hopes women who are now vying for political positions will not have to face what she and her colleagues did.
“Even now, men in my party aren’t intimidating me as much. The women of Sierra Leone are ready and proud to take up seats in parliament. Our main problem now is money for our campaigns. But we are going to do it. I’m going to continue being a trailblazer for my district. I won’t stop at MP, I want to be the first female president of Sierra Leone.”
