‘Without Education You Can Never Become President’: Teenage Pregnancy and Pseudo-empowerment in Post-Ebola Sierra Leone

Resource type
Journal Article
Author/contributor
Title
‘Without Education You Can Never Become President’: Teenage Pregnancy and Pseudo-empowerment in Post-Ebola Sierra Leone
Abstract
This article analyses the emergence of ‘teenage pregnancy’ as a new policy focus in post-Ebola Sierra Leone and explores how Sierra Leoneans interpret the problem of ‘teenage pregnancy’. I argue that the new policy focus is not indicative of changing or new problems. Rather, ‘teenage pregnancy’ has created opportunities for donors and the Government of Sierra Leone to continue cooperation in gender politics. At the same time, Sierra Leoneans are clearly concerned about ‘teenage pregnancy’, and many agree with sensitization campaigns that responsibilize young women and girls while downplaying structural factors that render them vulnerable to arrangements involving transactional sex.
Publication
Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding
Volume
13
Issue
4
Pages
440-458
Date
August 8, 2019
ISSN
1750-2977
Short Title
‘Without Education You Can Never Become President’
Accessed
15/12/2020, 19:22
Library Catalogue
Taylor and Francis+NEJM
Extra
Publisher: Routledge _eprint: https://doi.org/10.1080/17502977.2019.1612992
Citation
Menzel, A. (2019). ‘Without Education You Can Never Become President’: Teenage Pregnancy and Pseudo-empowerment in Post-Ebola Sierra Leone. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 13(4), 440–458. https://doi.org/10.1080/17502977.2019.1612992