I am Generation Equality: Haja Marie Bob Kandeh advocates for women’s rights.

I was born in the Kambia District in the Magbema and Gbinleh Dixon chiefdoms of Sierra Leone. I come from a polygamous family and I was the only child among my mother’s children to attend school. I finished junior secondary school, which was a major achievement for a girl in the 1960s. As the only educated person in my family, I am often called upon to intervene to resolve family issues and take the lead on a wide range of economic, social, and education decisions across my extended family. Women taking decisions on these matters are very uncommon.

After getting married as a teenager, I began working as a petty trader selling vegetables and food items at the Garrison Street Market in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Though I didn’t know it at the time, this was the start of my life as a woman’s rights activist. I began noticing the challenges many of my women customers face in their marriages are similar to mine—they, too, are afraid to speak out. So, I began advocating for the market women, serving as a mediator to help resolve a range of issues from family problems to business dealings.

In 1994, I was elected in 1994 as Secretary the market committee organized by the Freetown City Council. Under this capacity, I worked to resolved minor disputes in the market and in 1996, I co-founded the Sierra Leone Market Women Association. Our key objectives are to educate market women on their roles, rights and responsibilities as citizens so they can be able to contribute to the national development and participate in decision-making in their communities, in a way that they have not been able to in the past.

Awareness is key

As COVID-19 began to make its way around the globe, no country was spared. We were dealing with high levels of denial of COVID-19 amongst the public, as well as the shadow pandemic of violence against women and girls. We heard stories of girls being forced into marriages with older men; young women pressured into marriage for their own survival; teen pregnancy rates going up; women coping with physical and emotional abuse by partners; and families under economic stress due to business opportunities drying up as the borders closed.

Through support from UN Women and Irish Aid, I was able to address some of these issues in the rural districts of Kambia, Port Loko, Tonkolili, Karene, and Western Area Rural through the Sierra Leone Market Women’s Association. My work is not just in Freetown anymore, but in those districts outside the capital, we began sensitizing market women on COVID-19 response. We taught them COVID-19 prevention measures and held meetings on the more complex issues, including sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). These meetings allowed men and boys, women and girls to speak openly about the violence against women in their communities. We brought in the Human Rights Commission, the Sierra Leone Police Family Support Unit (FSU) and traditional leaders to show the community that gender issues are not only “women’s issues”. With their support, we encouraged women and men to take a stand and speak up when they witness abuse, forced marriage, and acts of violence. They were also sensitized on the Amended Sexual Offence Act 2019 and how they could help in their own way to End Violence Against Women and girls in their communities.

Because of my work as a women’s rights activist, I was nominated to become a Share4Mama Salone Ambassador to advocate and engage with market women to take steps to prevent COVID-19 in their homes, in the market, and their communities. In this role, I will do what I do best! Go to the market with my megaphone, go to the radio stations, and into communities, to educate women and girls on preventing COVID-19, SGBV, and early marriage.

As a Share4Mama Salone Ambassador, I hope to use my voice influence the next generation of young women and girls to become activists in their communities, because this fight is for the health and safety of not only ourselves, but our nation. Everyone has a role to play, women and men, girls and boys.

#GenerationEquality #share4MamaSalone #CoronaFetNaWeAllfet #InternationalWomensDay #IWD2021

For media enquiries, contact:

Aqueelah Barrie UN Women Freetown, Sierra Leone aqueelah.barrie@unwomen.org

Hawa Diop UN Women Regional Communications Officer West and Central Africa Regional Office Dakar, Senegal