Sierra Leone Parliament Polices Women’s Clothing: Turning Misogyny into Policy

by Fatima Babih, EdD

The recent rule enforced by the Parliament of Sierra Leone, barring women in trousers and miniskirts from entering the parliamentary well, is not about decorum. It is not about order. It is not about professionalism. It is a naked expression of misogyny, one that serves no legislative purpose, advances no national interest, and solves none of the urgent problems confronting Sierra Leone.

From today onwards… if you are a lady and you are not wearing a skirt, don’t enter this chamber. Don’t come to this chamber with trousers. Don’t come to this chamber with a mini skirt. It’s disrespectful.

~ Deputy Speaker of Parliament

With these words, spoken openly on the floor of Parliament, Sierra Leone’s legislature crossed a dangerous line: it reduced women’s participation in governance to what they wear on their bodies.

This was not a debate.
This was not a motion.
This was not law.
This was gender descrimination.

It was a unilateral pronouncement, made by a male authority figure, policing women’s clothing in the name of “respect for the institution.”

Let us be clear: institutions are not disrespected by trousers (pants). They are disrespected by misogyny.

When the Deputy Speaker declares:

If you are a lady… don’t enter this chamber.

He is not talking about decorum. He is asserting institutional misogyny.

Respect for Parliament is not measured by skirt length. It is measured by:

• The quality of debate
• The seriousness of lawmaking
• The protection of citizens’ rights

None of these are affected by whether a woman wears trousers or skirt.

What is affected is women’s dignity, autonomy, and equal access to public space.

This pronouncement sends a chilling message: women’s presence in power is conditional, conditional on compliance with male-defined norms of femininity and decency.

That is not governance.
That is patriarchy in full display.

Who Is Targeted?

Notice who the rule applies to specifically:

Whether you are a clerk or a staff member of this parliament, if you are a lady…

This is not about elected officials alone. It targets working women, clerks, staff, professionals, many of whom are not wealthy, not protected, and not politically powerful. In other words, this rule punches downward.

While Parliament ignores massive corruption, economic collapse, youth unemployment, youth drug addiction epidemic, high rate maternal mortality, persistent high rate of rape of little girls, and rampant gender-based violence, it finds the time to regulate women’s clothing.

This is what happens when power is more concerned with controlling women than solving national problems.

Silent Elitist Women Beware

This moment demands honesty, especially from educated, professional, and elite women who have learned to stay silent to remain “respectable.” To those women: this rule is not about other women. It is about you too.

If Parliament can publicly humiliate women staff today, it can humiliate women MPs tomorrow. If it can dictate trousers today, it can dictate wrappers tomorrow.

Patriarchy does not protect women because they are educated.
It does not spare women because they are successful.
It does not stop because a woman is “one of the good ones.”
Silence will not save you.

There is a dangerous illusion among some privileged Sierra Leonean women that fighting misogyny affecting poor, uneducated, or rural women is an act of generosity. It is not.

Fighting for disadvantaged women is not charity. It is self-defense.

Fighting injustice against the most vulnerable women is a fight for justice and equality for all women, including those who currently feel insulated by status. Patriarchy will come for you too.

When institutions normalize controlling women’s bodies at the bottom, they are rehearsing it for the top.

Lawmaking Not Dress Policing

If the Deputy Speaker is genuinely concerned about “respect for the institution,” then let Parliament show respect by:

• Protecting women from violence
• Passing laws that keep girls safe from exploitation
• Addressing the economic hardship crushing families
• Confronting the drug abuse destroying the youth

A Parliament that obsesses over skirts while the country burns has lost moral authority.

Reject This Pronouncement

This rule has no legal basis, no democratic process, and no place in a modern legislature. It should be publicly challenged, formally reversed, and recorded as what it is: a misogynistic abuse of authority.

Women do not need permission to enter public life.
They do not need male approval to belong in public spaces.
They do not need skirts to earn respect for their contributions to nation building.

And to every elitist woman watching this unfold: this is your warning.

When injustice becomes policy, and silence becomes strategy, patriarchy wins. We must reject it.

#WomensRights

#EndMisogyny

#AfricanWomen

#SierraLeone

#GenderJustice

#FeministVoice