Why Sierra Leonean Women Don’t Feel Protected By Domestic Violence Laws

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Why Sierra Leonean Women Don’t Feel Protected By Domestic Violence Laws

By Luisa T. Schneider, Postdoctoral research fellow, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. First published on The Conversation

Sierra Leone has a long history of sexual and gender based violence, dating back to the colonial era and stretching into the years of independence which began in 1961. The country’s civil war, which raged between 1991 and 2002, brought international attention to the high levels of violence against women.

In this way, Sierra Leone is similar to many young democracies in Africa with a violent history; it struggles with patriarchal attitudes and high levels of violence against women and girls.

After the war, several legal changes were made to try and address this kind of violence. One was the Domestic Violence Act, ratified in 2007. It criminalises all forms of violence – physical, sexual, emotional and economic — against women and outlines strict punishments for perpetrators.

Jennie Willoughby, Rob Porter's Ex-Wife, Talks Trump's Dismissal Of Her Abuse & Rejection Of #MeToo

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JENNIE WILLOUGHBY PENS TIME ESSAY ADDRESSING TRUMP CALLING HER AND PORTER'S OTHER ACCUSERS LIARS, AND AMERICA'S REFUSAL TO CONFRONT REALITY OF ABUSE.

Jennie Willoughby, Rob Porter's Ex-Wife, Talks Trump's Dismissal Of Her Abuse & Rejection Of #MeToo

Trump essentially called the three-women 'liars' who have accused former White House staff secretary Rob Porter of physical and emotional abuse. The trio includes two ex-wives and the woman Porter was dating when he got cozy with White House Communications Director Hope Hicks in November. By then, the White House was fully appraised that Porter was having difficulty getting a top-level security clearance -- considered a problem so serious that Porter should have been sent packing months ago. 

American women -- and many men -- are speechless that Trump has not said one word in support of women who are abused, a reality that is a serious problem in America and worldwide. Specifically, his tweets have only spoken of harm done to men by false accusations from women, as Trump inquired if there was no due process anymore. 

UN Delegation Visits Alabama, Texas & Oregon, Leaves 'Appalled' At Gender Inequality In America

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UN Delegation Visits Alabama, Texas & Oregon, Leaves 'Appalled' At Gender Inequality In America

American Women Have No Idea How Far Behind We Are Our Pursuit of Gender Equality and Women's Rights

The lack of awareness among American women about our falling status made the greatest impression on the UN experts. "So many people really believe that U.S. women are way better off with respect to rights than any woman in the world," Raday said.

Interviewed about her 2011 book 'Flipside', Phyllis Schlafly, who led the crusade to derail the Equal Rights Amendment by tapping into conservative fears about liberating women with equal rights, said:

It is self evident that American women are the most fortunate women who ever lived and enjoy more freedoms and opportunities than are available in any other country. Armed with the right attitude, they have every opportunity for happiness and achievement. Women should stop feeling they are victims of the patriarchy, reject feminist myths, and follow the roadmap to success and happiness spelled out in ‘Flipside.’

In reality, US women have sunk to 28th place in the world, sandwiched between Mozambique and Cuba, in the latest 2015 World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report. In the area of political empowerment, America ranks a pathetic 72 in the world, with extensive research confirming that the reason we are an even worse 81 on women in parliament -- our Congress -- (as opposed to women in managerial government position) is that we refuse to believe that women can legislate as effectively as men.

Eye | UAE Pilot Major Mariam al-Mansouri Leads UAE Air Strikes Against ISIS | Domestic Violence Tab Put At $9.5 Trillion Annually

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RedTracker

Forbes axed a column and future columns from contributor Bill Frezza, an MIT graduate and alumni president of MIT’s Lambda Chi Alpha chapter, after Frezza’s column Drunk Female Guests Are The Gravest Threat To Fraternities hit the digital airwaves. Forbes quickly pulled the column but not before Gawker Media jumped on it. Jezebel has reprinted the column for posterity.

Frezza, who writes that he chronicles “the decline and fall of entitlement democracy” argued on Forbes last month:

As recriminations against fraternities mount and panicked college administrators search for an easy out, one factor doesn’t seem to be getting sufficient analysis: drunk female guests.

Clearly the threat of drunk coeds is front and center in Frezza’s mind. Last month, his Ban Kegs From Fraternity Parties? Require Them Instead column described the scope of the problem:

I have the privilege of serving as the president of the alumni corporation for my MIT fraternity. This puts me in the role of loco parentis to 40 college boys, a responsibility I take seriously. While MIT undergrads may not be entirely representative of the country’s college students, even the smartest kids are still capable of doing stupid things. And if you think teenage boys can be stupid when it comes to alcohol, the girls seem to work overtime to do them one better. I have witnessed 95-pound, 18-year-old coeds standing in line outside a fraternity party chugging fifths of vodka because they know they won’t be served once inside. (They call it pre-gaming.) Does anyone really believe this is safer than allowing them to sip on a beer?

A small, 2009 study of 500 students on five universitty campuses found that students placed in coed housing are much more likely to binge drink each week than students living in gender-specific housing. 42 percent of students in coed housing reported binge drinking on a weekly basis, while only 8 percent of students in gender-specific housing reported the same.

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