CSO Gender Platform has educated Bakoteh market women in The Gambia on Beijing Plus 25 Review Process with a view to accelerating progress for gender equality by 2030.

Speaking at the training, CSO Gender Platform Coordinator, Tabu Njie-Sarr, called for end to violence against women and girls.

One in four women between the ages of 15 and 49 will become a victim of sexual and gender-based violence and 26 percent of ever-married women have experienced physical, sexual, and emotional violence by their husbands or intimate partners.

About 24 percent of ever-married women have physical injuries due to intimate partner violence, UNFPA said in a 2020 report on domestic and gender-based violence (GBV) during Covid-19 in The Gambia

The occurrence of GBV in some communities in The Gambia has been ‘normalised’ to the extent that 40 percent of women believe it is acceptable for their partner(s) to hit them, the report added.

Similarly, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and child marriage continues to terrorise women and girls in the country, as 75% of women and girls within their reproductive age have undergone FGM, while data showed that 30 percent of women aged 20 to 24 years were first married or in union before age 18.

Njie-Sarr said one must not lose the fact that Beijing declaration outlined 12 critical areas for the emancipation of women and girls all over the world.

The CSO Gender Platform coordinator also said that the rejection of the 2020 Draft Constitution Bill by the national assembly was a setback.

Njie-Sarr, who commended the government of The Gambia for its efforts in protecting women and girls, urged the government to enforce laws protecting women and girls.

Source: The Point

 Photo source: The Point