Strengthening Women’s Citizenship in the Context of State-Building: The Experience of Sierra Leone

Based on field research in Sierra Leone conducted by Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior (FRIDE) and Campaign for Good Governance (CGG), this working paper examines how processes of post-conflict state-building have redrawn the boundaries of authority between the formal state and customary governance systems, and provided new citizenship opportunities for women. The paper focuses "on the two main elements that make up citizenship - women’s participation in governance and women’s rights, particularly as accessed through the justice system."

The document takes the approach that traditional conceptions of citizenship as solely a relationship between the individual and state can obscure the citizenship experiences and activities of women who access rights and participate in governance at the community or domestic level through membership in social collectives such as ethnic and religious groups, local communities, or families. "A broader, multi-level approach enables an understanding of how women operate as citizens within the social groups of which they are members, as well as how women’s relationship to the state is shaped by their social identity and mediated through their community membership - for example where decisions over women’s lives are delegated to community level, or women are 'represented' in dealings with the state by male community leaders." The 2 governance frameworks, the customary chiefdom framework and the democratic state framework, constitute the context within which women may claim their rights and participate in Sierra Leone.

In the context of the state-building processes that are under way in Sierra Leone, according to this document, there are opportunities to strengthen women’s citizenship. For example, three "Gender Bills" were passed by parliament in 2007 which provide women with greater rights and legal redress in the areas of marriage and divorce, inheritance, and domestic violence - areas all previously regulated by customary law. The democratisation and decentralisation process occurring in the rebuilding, after the abolishment of locally-elected government in 1972 and years of civil war, has created new structures through which people can exercise citizenship - participating in decision-making and holding the state accountable for their rights. However, those of the central government are not accessible at the village level due to underdeveloped structures and language barriers. The establishment of local government - a system of Ward Committees (ward level committees are, by law, constituted of five men and five women; elected local councils are overwhelmingly male-dominated) - has "made the formal state more accessible to women, by bringing it physically closer to them, giving it a mandate to address some of the development issues of relevance to women’s daily lives, operating in the local language, and providing opportunities for women’s political participation."

Women participate in community decision-making in a number of ways, not always formally recognised and codified as governance, including: serving as "mammy queens" - senior women who play leadership roles within the community; through women’s secret societies; and through family connections - including serving as female heads of households - and other informal relationships. Women’s organisations built the capacity of women to run for local office and the local elections in July 2008. However, there is significant pressure against running for office or participating formally in governance. Some work by women’s organisations to build the capacity of women to run for local office and the local elections in July 2008 stimulated a positive trend of more women running than in 2004.

A range of women’s civil society organisations work to promote women’s rights and participation. These organisations are primarily engaged in raising awareness at the community level, building women’s capacity to participate in politics and decision-making, undertaking policy advocacy with government authorities, and drawing the attention of state institutions to women's rights. However, the lack of education and the language differences prevent wide spread and grassroots participation by women outside of the urban area. Women also lack the education, time, tools, and finances to access justice systems beyond those at the local level, despite that fact that not all grievances belong in local courts and despite the lack of implementation in the local-level courts of recently achieved legal decisions like the three "Gender Bills".

Findings indicate the following specific recommendations to donors - particularly in situations like that in Sierra Leone, where half its post-war budget comes from development aid:

• Ensuring that institution building strengthen women's rights and participation in governance;
  
• Engaging with, understanding, and supporting reform of the customary governance structures (particularly those at the local level) that are central to women’s lives;
  
• Creating the enabling social and economic environment required for women to access their rights; and
  
• Supporting the development of evidence and knowledge on how state-building processes affect women and can be used as opportunities to strengthen women’s citizenship.

The document concludes that : "[I]t is important that strengthening women’s rights and participation are explicit aims built into all governance policies and strategies from the initial stages of peace-building, through to democratisation and institution-building and strengthening. It is also important that state-building processes fully engage with customary governance structures - which are central to most women’s lives - rather than construct a formal state that lies 'on top' of unreformed customary governance structures which continue to determine people’s daily lives."