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Good practice

Sierra Leone's Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (GEWE) Act, 2022

Sierra Leone · Freetown · See the Sierra Leone profile

Sierra Leone's 2022 Gender Equality Act mandates a 30% quota for women in politics, public service and firms with 25+ staff. After the 2023 election, women's elected parliamentary seats rose from 14.5% to 30.4%, one of Africa's fastest legislated gains.

14.5 %
Women in parliament (directly elected) (2018)
30.4 %
Women in parliament (directly elected) (2023)

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
Ministry of Gender and Children's Affairs, Government of Sierra Leone
Period
2022–present
Keywords
gender quotas, political representation, employment law, public policy

Context

Sierra Leone's Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (GEWE) Act, passed unanimously in November 2022 and signed January 2023, mandates a minimum 30% quota for women in parliament, cabinet, local councils, the civil service and private employers with 25+ staff, and extends maternity leave from 12 to 14 weeks.

Results

In the 24 June 2023 general election, women won 41 of 135 directly elected parliamentary seats (30.4%), up from 14.5% in 2018 -- one of the fastest legislated gains in political representation recorded in Africa; including indirectly elected seats, overall representation reached 28.2% of the 149-seat parliament, above the 18.4% West African regional average.

Conclusions

A February 2025 Parliament-Westminster Foundation for Democracy review found that private-sector compliance with the 30% quota remains unmonitored, with no published audit data confirming employer adherence.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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