The Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs in collaboration with Partners has the REAL MEN CAMPAIGN on Monday, 25th November 2024 at Bintumani Hotel in Freetown on the 1st day of the 16 days of activism. The global theme for this year is “Towards plus30 years of Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action: Unite to End Violence Against Women". And with the country theme “Beijing +30 tok se, joyn an for tap bad tin pa uman en gyal pikin'.” ( literally translated as Working Together to Stop Violence Against Women and Girls).
The launch was graced by government ministers, diplomats, students and pupils, and many other personalities. Few of these personalities were the Minister of Health, The Ambassador of Ireland, The Country Manager of the World Bank, The Minister of Gender and Children’s Affairs and Her Excellency the First Lady of the Republic of Sierra Leone
The event's speaker (the Minister of Gender and Children’s Affairs, the Head of Delegation, European Union, and the Minister of Health), emphasised the “Real Men Campaign.” They stressed the meaning of real men which means men should create an enabling and safe society for women and girls by eliminating rape, child labour, sexual violence, early marriage etc. They encouraged men to treat women and girls as how they would prefer their mothers, sisters and aunties to be treated and create an equitable society by giving women the same Job opportunities as men.
They also emphasized on the termination of harmful traditional practices such as Female Genital Mutilation of females under age 18 and the promotion of legal reform on child abuse. The government has committed a 30 per cent quota of women in all works of life through the Gender Equality and Women Empowerment Act.
The event was a great platform for me as an intern under Network AID to meet new people, like the manager of the Women Environmental Program (WEP) that advocate for the rights of Women and young girls and climate change. After getting to know her and what her organisation does, I am looking forward to my organization and hers to collaborate as both are advocating for women and children for an enabling society.
On today’s event, I learnt how to stand for my rights and how to encouraged men around me to also be real men to women and society at large. With these lessons learnt on today’s event it definitely not going to be very tasking as my organization Network AID is also focused on eradicating gender-based violence. With our effort, we are assure of a society free from violence against women and girls.
