Gambia: Gender Rights Activist says Ramadan leave-work-early memo is ‘sexist’

A memo allowing all female civil servants in The Gambia to leave work two hours early during Ramadan has been criticized as sexist.

The authorities said at the start of the Muslim holy fasting month that from Monday to Thursday women could leave at 2:00 pm local time and at 12:30 on Fridays as normal. The statement read that, “This is to allow female staff to attend to their evening ‘iftar’ preparations ahead of the breaking of the fast.”

However, now gender rights activist Fatou Baldeh said the initiative confines “women to the kitchen, while men work in the office”.

According to the BBC, Baldeh said, “When you say women to go home early, we as Gambian women know what that means.” She added, “It means go home and prepare food for breaking the fast, so go home and prepare food for your husband, for your family.

Baldeh further argued, “If this statement was given to everyone, if they said all civil servants can go home at two o’clock that’s a different thing.”

Umm Muhammed Umar

Alternative Mining Indaba 2026

Rabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za 19 February 2026 1-minute read The Alternative Mining Indaba which concluded in Cape Town brought together an array of people under the theme: Alternative Stories of Mining, united in solidarity with the mining communities...

SANDF deployment to Cape Flats, parts of Gauteng sparks debate over long-term solutions

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za 4-minute read 16 February 2026 President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to deploy the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to combat gang violence on the Cape Flats and in parts of Gauteng has been met with mixed reactions,...

ASRI Report: Key SONA 2026 Takeaways on Water, Crime and District Six

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za 4-minute read 13 February 2026 President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) has placed renewed attention on some of South Africa’s most urgent crises — from water insecurity and violent crime, to the fragile...

SONA 2026: Calls for Action on Frontline Public Services

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za 3-minute read 11 February 2026 As South Africa prepares for the 2026 State of the Nation Address (SONA), renewed calls are being made for the government to prioritise the rebuilding of frontline public services, which analysts...

ActionSA’s Proposal For Immigrants

Rabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za 17 February 2026 2-minute read On the revised ‘White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection’ published last year, Actions SA has proposed for only 10 thousand applications for asylum seekers to be considered...

What DA Premier Expects From SONA

Rabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za 12 February 2026 2-minute read With 345 murders in the Western Cape this January, DA Premier Allen Winde states that his expectations from SONA this year are levelled towards crime. The party has been calling for a long time...