Description:

Full Title: Strategies of Engagement for Policy Reform on Women’s Political Empowerment in Sierra Leone: An Analysis of the Fifty-Fifty Group

Abstract: This presentation examines how African women NGO’s exercise agency to demand policy reforms for women’s political empowerment in post-war development. I examine whether on their own they can produce intended outcomes or whether more complex processes that involve other partnerships are necessary. I examine the Fifty-Fifty Group which promotes women’s leadership, raises awareness about women’s rights, monitors policy reforms and provides support for women running for elected office in Sierra Leone. I will show how this organization seeks to transform the structure of gender relations in a deeply embedded patriarchal culture through advocacy for policy reform and its educational programs.

Bio: 

Dr. Beoku-Betts arrived at Florida Atlantic University in 1997 as one of two faculty members in Women’s Studies. Prior to coming to FAU, she was on the faculty in the Departments of Women’s Studies and Sociology at the University of Georgia. Her primary research is on postcolonial and feminist standpoint discourses on science with emphasis on the educational and career experiences and perspectives of African scientists. Her current research is on Women’s Peace Movements and Post-War Reconstruction in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Dr. Beoku-Betts has co-edited one book and several articles and book chapters in feminist and other scholarly journals. She was formerly co-regional editor for Women’s Studies International Forum, and co-Book Review Editor for Gender &Society. She is currently the co-President elect for the RC 32 Committee (Women and Society) of the International Sociological Association.

Dr. Beoku-Betts received the 2015 SWS Feminist Activism Award from Sociologists for Women in Society, recognizing her "contributions to feminist activism and her consistent use of sociology to better the lives of women."