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Sierra Leone has worst gender inequality in the world---UN |
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Written by Fatmata Kargbo
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Monday, 23 June 2008 |
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Sierra Leone is the worst country in Africa to live as a woman. It has the worst gender inequality in the world.
This is according to the UN Human Development Report’s gender index. The report scores countries on health, education and economic indicators for women. The report says one in eight women in Sierra Leone dies during pregnancy or childbirth. The report further says that Sierra Leonean women have an abysmal life expectancy of just forty-three years, which is the lowest in the world. It says Sierra Leonean girls can expect to receive only six years of schooling. The report says men continue to assault women with impunity even after the country’s parliament enacted laws last year that criminalized wife beating. Dr. Francis Smarte is the Acting Manager of the Reproductive Health Programme in the Ministry of Health and Sanitation. He told CTN that that data on maternal and infant mortality could not be far from the truth. He said in Sierra Leone, the life time risk of pregnant women was very high.
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