General Total male population under 15 (2014) (CIA, 2015): 1,198,553 Total female population under 15 (2014) (CIA, 2015): 1,208,775 Total male population over 15 (2014) (CIA, 2015): 1,590,157 Total female population over 15 (2014) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 1,746,240 Health Maternal mortality rate per 100,000 live births (2010) (CIA, 2015): 890 Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births (2014) (CIA, 2015): 73.29 Under-five mortality rate for males per 1,000 live births (2012) (United Nations Gender Statistics, 2015): 190 Under-five mortality rate for females per 1,000 live births (2012) (United Nations Gender Statistics, 2015): 172.9 Births attended by a skilled health professional (2010) (WHO, 2014b): 60.8% Prevalence of HIV among males aged 15 49 (Statistics Sierra Leone & ICF Macro, 2009): 1.2% Prevalence of HIV among females aged 15 49 (Statistics Sierra Leone & ICF Macro, 2009): 1.7% Life expectancy for men (2012) (WHO, 2014a): 45 Life expectancy for women (2012) (WHO, 2014a): 46 Education Male youth literacy rate, ages 15 24 (2012) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 71.64% Female youth literacy rate, ages 15 24 (2012) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 53.82% Male adult literacy rate, ages 15+ (2012) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 55.53% Female adult literacy rate, ages 15+ (2012) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 33.65% Male adjusted net enrolment rate in primary education: NA Female adjusted net enrolment rate in primary education: NA Male gross enrolment ratio in secondary education (2013) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 47.67% Female gross enrolment ratio in secondary education (2013) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 41.66% April 2015 Page 1 of 5
Male gross enrolment ratio in tertiary education (2002) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 2.91% Female gross enrolment ratio in tertiary education (2002) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 1.17% Graduates from tertiary education who are female (2000) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 43.8% Students enrolled in engineering, construction and manufacturing tertiary education programs who are female (2001) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 25.0% Teachers in primary education who are female (2012) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 25.6% Teachers in secondary education who are female (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2001): 27.4 Teachers in tertiary education who are female (2002) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 14.6% Economic Activity Males over 15 who are active in the labour force (United Nations Statistical Commission, 2010): 67% Females over 15 who are active in the labour force (United Nations Statistical Commission, 2010): 65% Men who have an account in a formal financial institution: NA Women who have an account in a formal financial institution: NA Decision-Making Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament (World Bank, 2014): 12% Human Rights Girls married before 15 (2013) (Girls Not Brides, 2015): 18% Females married between 15 and 19: NA Women subjected to physical/sexual violence by an intimate partner during their lifetime: NA Women subjected to physical/sexual violence by an intimate partner or a non-partner during their lifetime: NA * * * Gender Gaps Health The Government of Sierra Leone acknowledged in 2010 that according to UNICEF and Statistics Sierra Leone, over 90% of the country s females had undergone female genital mutilation (FGM), which can contribute to obstructed labour and maternal mortality (Republic of Sierra Leone, p. 36). April 2015 Page 2 of 5
The 2008 Demographic and Health Survey found that at the time of the survey, 34% of adolescents aged 15 19 had either already had a birth or were pregnant with their first child; 28% had had a live birth and 6% were pregnant with their first child. Adolescent childbearing was almost twice as high in rural areas (44%) than in urban areas (23%) (Republic of Sierra Leone, 2010, p. 37). In 2008, 36% of married women had an unmet need for family planning; 21% of these wished to space births and 15% to limit births (p. 38). Education According to the 2008 Demographic and Health Survey, which is the most recent available reliable data, the primary school completion rate in that year was 11.3% for females and 14.5% for males (Republic of Sierra Leone, 2010, p. 22). The government notes in its 2010 Millennium Development Goals report that [d]rop-out rates are high, notably among girls reaching puberty (p. 4). Economic Work in low-paying or non-earning jobs is disproportionately done by females. The government reported in 2010: There are wide gender disparities among the types of employment. Of the 1.3 million women and girls in the economically active population as well as the 47 percent who are self-employed, 35 percent are either unpaid family workers or household workers (compared with 12 percent of males). Women workers dominate these categories, which generate meagre or no incomes. Thus, women typically earn less from employment than men do. More men have access to paid jobs (76 percent) than women[,] who are still left out of jobs which males have traditionally dominated, and tend to have low or no income (Republic of Sierra Leone, p. 16). Decision-Making Although the high percentage of female graduates from tertiary education (43.8%) is encouraging, the government acknowledges the persistence of [t]raditional gender discriminatory laws, paternalistic culture, traditions and practices which discriminate against women in primary decision-making in households (2010, p. 28). This would seem to be the likely the foundation for the fact that Sierra Leonean women have not been able to achieve more equitable political representation at different levels of government (p. 27). Human Rights In 2010, the Deputy Country Director of the United Nations Development Programme stated that over the course of their lives, nearly all Sierra Leonean women will suffer from some form of sexual or gender-based violence (UNDP, 2010). The US Department of State reported in 2013 that [m]edical and psychological services for rape victims were limited. Authorities historically required victims to obtain a medical report for the filing of charges, examinations, reports, and court appearances, and most government doctors charged 10,000 to 70,000 leones ($2.30 to $16.10), fees that were prohibitively expensive for most victims (p. 19). April 2015 Page 3 of 5
Female genital mutilation (FGM) remains legal and very prevalent in Sierra Leone. As of 2010, 88% of women between ages 15 and 49 had undergone FGM; notably, this is a decline from 94% in 2001 (Population Reference Bureau, 2014, p. 6). The vast majority (96.1%) of FGM is carried out by traditional practitioners (i.e., individual who are not doctors, nurses, or midwives) (p. 10 11). Due to the Ebola epidemic, the Sierra Leone government has temporarily banned FGM, a move that some human rights organisations see as promising for the end of FGM in Sierra Leone, but the issue remains highly divisive (Goldberg, 2015). * * * References CIA. (2015). The world factbook: Country profiles. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/xx.html Girls Not Brides. (2015). Child marriage around the world. Retrieved from http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/where-does-it-happen Goldberg, E. (2015, January 16). Ebola could put a stop to female genital mutilation in Sierra Leone. Huffington Post. Retrieved from Kumetat, M. (Ed.). (2009). Women s empowerment in Sierra Leone. Retrieved from http://unlimitedpartnership.org/eng/women_empowerment_in_sierra_leone_engl. pdf National Democratic Institute. (2007). The 50/50 Group of Sierra Leone: Electing and empowering women. Retrieved from https://www.ndi.org/node/14126 Population Reference Bureau. (2014). Female genital mutilation/cutting: Data and trends. Retrieved from http://www.prb.org/pdf14/fgm-wallchart2014.pdf Republic of Sierra Leone. (2010, September). Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone Millennium Development Goals progress report 2010. Retrieved from http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/mdg/english/mdg%20country %20Reports/Sierra%20Leone/sierraleone_september2010.pdf Statistics Sierra Leone & ICF Macro. (2009). Sierra Leone demographic and health survey 2008: Key findings. Retrieved from http://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/sr171/sr171.pdf UK AID. (2012). Violence against women in Sierra Leone. Retrieved from http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/523ac7a94.pdf UNAIDS. (2013). HIV and AIDS estimates. Retrieved from http://www.unaids.org/en/regionscountries/countries/sierraleone/ UNESCO Institute of Statistics. (2015). Education. Retrieved from http://data.uis.unesco.org April 2015 Page 4 of 5
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). (2010). Sierra Leone: Sexual violence remains unpunished. Retrieved from http://content.undp.org/go/newsroom/2010/february/sierraleonesexualviolence-carrying-on-with-impunity.en United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). (2012). UNDP s leadership on the MDGs in Sierra Leone. Retrieved from http://www.sl.undp.org/content/sierraleone/en/home/mdgoverview.html United Nations Gender Statistics. (2015). Countries A Z. Retrieved from http://genderstats.org/browseby-countries United Nations Statistical Commission. (2010). Labor force participation, unemployment and economic sector of employment. Retrieved from http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/worldswomen/annex%20tabl es%20by%20chapter%20-%20pdf/table4ato4d.pdf US Department of State. (2013). Sierra Leone 2013 human rights report. Retrieved from http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/220368.pdf World Bank. (2014). Proportion of women holding seats in national parliament. Retrieved from http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/sg.gen.parl.zs World Economic Forum. (2013). The global gender gap report 2013. Retrieved from http://www3.weforum.org/docs/wef_gendergap_report_2013.pdf World Health Organization. (2006). Female genital mutilation and other harmful practices. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/fgm/prevalence/en/ World Health Organization. (2014a). Life expectancy: Data by country. Retrieved from http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.3?lang=en World Health Organization. (2014b). Women: Data by country. Retrieved from http://apps.who.int/gho/data/view.main.1630 April 2015 Page 5 of 5