The Sierra Leone Women's Movement (SLWM) was a Sierra Leonean women's organization founded by Constance Cummings-John in 1951 in collaboration with women leaders from Sierra Leone markets.[1]
The SWLM was founded in the aftermath of a 1951 Freetown demonstration of ten thousand women protesting the high cost of living and proposed increases in market dues. The women, led by Mabel Dove Danquah and Hannah Benka-Coker, blamed Lebanese wholesalers for the rising food prices, and petitioned for women to be given a monopoly to buy palm oil and rice directly from the governmental agricultural station.[2]
The Women's Movement campaigned on a mix of issues of importance to women, including trading rights and education, and lobbied for a farmers' bank. It published its own newspaper, set up a women traders' cooperative, and ran evening classes.[3] Though several prominent women in the SLWM were Creole, the organization also included Temne women, such as Haja Sukainatu Bangura, who served as the SLWM's vice-chairperson.[4]
In 1955 Milton Margai managed to win the SWLM's active support for the Sierra Leone People's Party.[5] In 1960 the SLWM became a founder member of the Federation of Sierra Leone Women's Organizations.[3]