[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.
It published its own newspaper, set up a women traders' cooperative, and ran evening classes.
[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.