'Without Education You Can Never Become President': Teenage Pregnancy and Pseudo-empowerment in Post-Ebola Sierra Leone. Issue 4 (8th August 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Menzel, Anne
• Is Part Of: Journal of intervention and statebuilding. Volume 13:Issue 4(2019)
• Page Start: 440
• Page End: 458
• Publication Date: 2019-08-08
• Subjects: Sierra Leone -- gender politics -- teenage pregnancy -- neoliberalism -- sexual violence -- aid and development; Intervention (International law) -- Periodicals; Nation-building -- Periodicals; Economic assistance -- Periodicals; Postwar reconstruction -- Periodicals; International cooperation -- Periodicals; 320
• DOI: 10.1080/17502977.2019.1612992
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1750-2977

Abstract

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.