Online Reporter
As we come to the end of March—the month set aside each year to highlight women’s issues, although attention to the rights and needs of all citizens, including women, is required throughout the year—we can begin assessing progress and identifying where substantial work remains.
These areas generally fall into two broad categories.
The first category concerns removing all legal impediments to women’s progress, primarily by eliminating gender discrimination in our laws.
It also includes ensuring the practical application of equality and, at least for a time, pursuing corrective measures to address the effects of historical discrimination.
While this remains a work in progress, significant strides have been made in bringing women into full participation in national and community life—including the business sector.
Continued success now depends largely on maintaining momentum and expanding the pool of educated and qualified women.
The second category of inequalities is more challenging, requiring changes in societal attitudes and the way individuals regard women. This involves transforming personal mindsets as well as societal norms.
Progress in institutional reforms has already exposed continuing instances of discriminatory behaviour, despite such actions being largely illegal.
At the lowest level of this inequality are illegal marriages, now typically unregistered customary unions involving teenage girls and older men.
Although the law has changed, many individuals and families continue to break it and conceal their actions.
Another major form of discrimination—gender‑based violence—is driven primarily by individuals rather than families or communities.
Many men still believe they have the right to assault their wives, girlfriends, or even women who simply annoy them.
Phrases like “a woman needs a hiding now and then” are heard less frequently, but the attitudes behind them persist and continue to fuel violence.
When considering the first group of inequalities, it is important to recognise that some outcomes depend on developments from decades past—particularly in women’s education and the professional opportunities available to young qualified women at the time.
Today, however, the pools of talent from which promotions and appointments are made include far more women, allowing merit rather than old biases—or even corrective policies—to guide decisions increasingly.
This progress is visible in areas where past attitudes might once have predicted different outcomes.
For example, the permanent secretaries of the two most technical ministries are both women engineers—a fact that now attracts little comment.
The legal profession also has a significant, often overwhelming, majority of women in its structures, especially among magistrates.
In the business world, although women remain under‑represented in senior leadership, it is no longer remarkable to see a woman elected as board chairperson or appointed as CEO.
Shareholders are unlikely to treat such appointments as symbolic gestures; as the pool of qualified women grows, more will be recognised as the best candidates. Positive measures—especially those aimed at improving women’s access to finance—are also bearing fruit.
Banks are increasingly realising that women in business generally demonstrate stronger repayment discipline than many men, making them highly reliable clients.
However, societal change is progressing more slowly than expected, even among post‑independence generations.
Here, progress depends on stronger enforcement of existing laws and ensuring that women not only know their rights—such as the right to refuse marriage or seek legal protection from violence—but are able to exercise them without fear.
Police training, accompanied by the rise of more senior women officers, has opened institutional doors. Yet women often have to challenge family expectations, conservative community norms, and lifelong conditioning to walk through those doors.
Several organisations now offer vital support to victims, and their work is effective, though deserving of greater resources.
Unlike educational and professional reforms—where progress can simply accumulate as opportunities expand—violence against women demands urgent action.
Society cannot afford to wait for gradual cultural change. We must ensure that women are empowered and protected as they push for the change that is urgently needed.
