A huge win for women in Sierra Leone

In this issue, I focus on a historic law for women in Sierra Leone, a government in disagreement over climate solutions in Colombia and a fight over a gay man between India's government and the Supreme Court. Also, you'll read about an award-winning podcast about representation within the arts, a documentary with Idris Elba taking you to Mali and South Africa and an over-hyped upcoming Bollywood film breaking the YouTube charts already. Plus, so much more. Support this newsletter

Sierra Leone introduces a job quota and a 14-week maternity leave for women

Last week Sierra Leone passed a new law that states that 30% of jobs in both public and private companies must be given to women. (BBC)

Why this matters:
Sierra Leone is one of the first countries in Africa to pass such a law. Many women in the country have been campaigning for this for many years. Discrimination against women in the workplace is a "big issue," according to Manty Tarawalli, Minister of Gender and Children's Affairs, and the new law will "change the status quo," she said. Sierra Leone has one of the lowest levels of gender equality in the world. It ranked 182nd out of 189 countries according to the UN's 2020 Gender Development Index.

Tell me more:
President Julius Maada Bio made an apology to women for their poor treatment in the past: "For so long we haven't been fair to you," he said. The quota also applies to management roles. Manty Tarawalli, Minister of Gender and Children's Affairs, said that the law lets girls who are still at school know "there are opportunities for them in Sierra Leone for employment for business" and for them to contribute to the economy, Ms Tarawalli said. Under the new Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Act (GEWE), women also get 14 weeks of maternity leave along with equal pay and training opportunities.

What if businesses don't put this law into practice?
They'll have to pay fines of up to 50,000 leones or US$2,500 per incident, and even potential prison time for institutions like banks that do not give women fair access to financial support. The law will apply to any business with more than 25 employees, but a final decision has not yet been made.

How have women in the country reacted to this new law?
"We are happy today as our dream for an improved political, social and economic empowerment of women and girls in Sierra Leone has started," Sally Ndimawa Adams, who heads the Sierra Leone Women's Forum, said. I emphasized started because women in the country also suffer high levels of sexual violence at work and in their private lives. They're also underrepresented in politics, with only 18 seats in the 146-seat parliament being held by women and with only four women present in Bio's 32-member cabinet. The new quota will also apply to the parliament. (DW) Most women in Sierra Leone currently work in insecure, poorly paid jobs, with few opportunities for advancement.

Bigger picture:
This is not to say that women from/in Sierra Leone haven't been engaging in the economy so far. There are many examples. To name just a few so as to not paint a false picture: Thanks to Winstina Taylor, a Sierra Leonean female filmmaker and producer, Amazon Prime is able to stream four movies from Sierra Leone. (Awoko Newspaper) Or because of Daphne Pratt, a Sierra Leonean literary icon, poet and educator whose books many people read in order to learn the Krio language or Namina Forna, a Sierra Leonean-American writer and author of the New York Times bestseller "The Gilded Ones". (Poda Poda)

It's official -- Colombia will no longer approve new oil and gas exploration projects

Colombia's government last week, again, said that it will no longer approve any new oil and gas exploration projects. 'We want to move toward a new sustainable economy,' it said. (The Guardian) This is not the first -- and probably not the last -- time. The decision to move away from fossil fuels is super difficult for the Latin American country.

Why this matters:
The science is clear: The burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas, is wrecking our climate and our health.

Tell me more:
Last week Irene Vélez, the Minister for Mines, again told world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, "This decision is absolutely urgent and needs immediate action." Colombia's president, Gustavo Petro, agrees. After all, he's made ending the country's long history of economic reliance on oil a key part of his presidential campaign last year.

But other parts of the government, specifically the country's Minister of Finance José Ocampo, disagree with the President and keep putting out contradicting public statements, saying 'No, no, we are still open to new oil and gas projects <3 Please come.' An editorial note (in Spanish) at El Espectador wrote up a chronology of this highly controversial debate.

Why is this decision so controversial?
Let me summarize the discourse for you: 'How are we going to make money?!' and 'Why should we be the pioneers? For whom? Nobody will applaud us for this self-sacrifice and this will not affect the global demand for fossil fuels,' critics from the let's-think-about-ourselves-first group say. Manuel Rodríguez, the country's first environment minister, even calls the idea childish.

President Petro and his supporters reply, 'yes, you are right, we are very reliant on oil right now but alternative economies will make up for it, trust the process. We can invest in tourism...