Concerned parent calls for working environments free from sexual exploitation

A concerned parent, who pleaded for anonymity, on Thursday walked into The Point office, with a message for President Adama Barrow and the Coalition government to help create a working environment in the country that would be free from the sexual exploitation of young girls.

During an interview with this reporter, she said as a parent she feels bad whenever a young girl is told that she has to have a date with a boss in order to get a job, even though she is qualified for that job.

“Our young girls cannot get a job unless they sleep with the so called boss, and it is worst in our hotel industry. When our young girls, who we struggled as parents to educate, are sexually exploited all in the name of giving them a job, what will happen in the future.”

They want their young girls and women to be employed based on their qualifications, and not to be sexually exploited first before being employed, she added.

She added that letting tourists visit the country contributes to the economy, but that should not make them forget to protect the dignity of their girls, and to ban any tourist whose aim is to sexually exploit this young girls, from entering the country.

She said The Gambia should be seen as a hospitable destination for the tourists, and not as a sex paradise.

She called on the government to create more opportunities for the youths, to prevent them from going through the “Back Way”.

She said one of her sons was employed recently, and he is to be paid D1,300 with no transport allowance. There is nothing more painful than waking up with the news of losing one’s son to the sea due to the irregular migration.

She added that anything the government is doing should be in the best interest of Gambians, adding that, as parents, they are eager to see their sons and daughters have good working conditions.

However, she added, in doing so the government should not succumb to anything like homosexuals or their ideas getting into the country to make the upbringing of children difficult for them as parents.

She said they want investors to come into the country to open more opportunities for the youths, but the government should screen their products to make sure that they do not pose a threat to the lives and well-being of Gambians, particularly food products entering the country.