By George M.O. Williams
The Campaign for Human Rights and Development International (CHRDI) in collaboration with partners with funding from Internews – US has on Wednesday, November 22, 2023, engaged stakeholders in the public private sectors Engagement on Digital Rights of Women in workplaces.
The purpose of the engagement was to promote the development of a workplace policy that will protect women’s rights online and offline.
The event which brought together representatives from the security sector, civil society organisations, government ministries, and private sector was held in Freetown.
The engagement was held under the INTERNEWS-US WIRED – SL project, which is themed: “Advancement of Women’s Voice and Putting an End to Violence and Harassment against Women and Girls both Online and Offline”.
The Executive Director of CHRDI, Abdul Fatoma, said that during the course of the discussion, CHRDI will tap into the knowledge and experience of participants in creating a policy in workplaces that will protect women against all forms of violence.
He added that it is expected that at the end of the discussion, a roadmap will be developed which will be used to encourage institutions to develop policy in their workplaces to protect women.
He mentioned that the policy will not only focus on matter of harassment, bullying and other forms of violence but creating a safe place of work for women.
Fatoma holds the view that the policy should be a mandatory for employer which should be part of the employment package that should be agreed upon by the employee.
The Focal Person for Internews – Sierra Leone, Martha Kargbo said that the project is focused primarily on key issues that are affecting women. She said that it is hoped that continuous discussion will be held at community level on issues affecting Women.
A Representative of the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs, Joseph Sondi Sillah, said that digital space is for all, and should not be used to harass and bully women in society.
He added that the digital space should also be made useful rather than being used to violate the rights of women and girls in society.
Sillah cited that the 2023 election period revealed that a lot of women were being harassed both online and offline.