Witchcraft Accusations and Women’s Economic Empowerment in Rural Communities in Sierra Leone | Chapter 8 | Current Progress in Arts and Social Studies Research Vol. 3

 

The article examines the impact of witchcraft accusations on women's empowerment in rural areas of Sierra Leone, with Makeni Township being a case study. Witchcraft accusations, once a shared burden for both men and women, have increasingly targeted women and children in recent times. This alarming trend calls for a deeper understanding and heightened concern.

 

The study employs a survey method, which includes the administration of questionnaires, focus group discussions, formal interviews, and reviewing related literature. Witches are known to hold meetings at night, and in these meetings, they wear nothing except masks, sit around corpses, and sometimes have intercourse with dead women. Results indicate that older women are more prone to witchcraft accusations, and men who are often witch hunters mostly make these accusations. The paper also shows that older women are targeted mainly because of traditional or cultural conceptualizations, which direct witchcraft accusations to women only because that is how it is, poverty, and terminal illnesses. This study also shows that Witchcraft has a less positive impact on women and affects their chances of being empowered. Women who are accused of practicing witchcraft endure a great deal of cruel treatment, which includes social marginalization, public mockery, public shaming, and condemnation, and occasionally even death. It is noteworthy that charges of witchcraft are both a cause and an effect of the lack of economic empowerment for women in this region of the world, as the paper concludes that women's accusations of witchcraft practices are closely associated with their low socioeconomic standing. This underscores the urgent need for gender equality and eliminating such harmful practices. The paper proposes several solutions to address this issue, including community education and awareness campaigns, legal reforms to protect the rights of accused women, and economic empowerment programs for women in rural areas.

 

 

Author(s) Details

Ibrahim Munu
Department of Sociology and Social Work, Njala University, Bo, Sierra Leone.

Mohamed Yusuf
Department of Peace and Development Studies, Njala University, Sierra Leone.

 

Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/cpassr/v3/1414