We stand with our women

March 8, 2022, we are celebrating the achievements and contributions of women and girls in different spheres across the globe.

In Ghana, a number of activities have been lined up to mark the occasion. The Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice is organising a stakeholder meeting on the theme: “Breaking the bias: Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”.

The diplomatic community will also not be left behind as they mark International Women’s Day with breakfast meeting with Women in Banking.

For us in Graphic, a women’s day’s programme on cervical cancer, dubbed, “Women’s Health,” is being organised.

As the important day is being marked, we cannot gloss over its significance.

The first International Women's Day was celebrated in 1911 to spread the message of gender equality, devoid of gender biases. Since then, March 8 has always been designated as the day to celebrate the role of women in our development effort.

Therefore, today’s celebration is to entrench the over-a-centenary event that seeks to draw the world’s attention that true development calls for an all-inclusive enterprise where men and women contribute to realising their common goal.

It is unfortunate and indeed a shame that long after a century, the very tenets that motivated Clara Zetkin to table the idea of the International Women’s Day at the second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen remain elusive.

Discrimination, violence against women and stereotyping are still major bottlenecks to forging a world of gender equality and are holding too many women back, which will consequently retard our progress.

Article 15 (1) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, signed in 1980, explicitly provides that states which have ratified the convention shall accord to women equality with men and Article 2 commits states which have ratified the convention “to take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices which constitute discrimination against women.”

Over 30 years since the convention’s entry into force, the recognition and enjoyment of equal rights with men still remain elusive for large sections of women around the world.

Even though we can say that since the ratification of the convention on February 2, 1986, a lot of progress has been made in terms of equality, the Daily Graphic believes we still have a long way to go, especially in the area of governance.

We are disappointed that close to three decades of the Fourth Republican Constitution, Ghana is yet to take appropriate measures to actualise Article 35 (6) which mandates the State to “take appropriate measures to achieve reasonable regional and gender balance in the recruitment and appointment to public offices” despite the immense contribution of women to political life.

Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by world leaders in 2015 is integral to each of the 17 goals.

The Daily Graphic sees the theme for this year: “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow,” as appropriate and a reminder that if we, as a nation, continue to sideline women who are in the majority, it will impact negatively on the country’s future.

As Ghana joins the world to mark this all-important day today, we know a number of activities have been lined up including symposiums, fora and other activities across the country.

We believe that the time has come for the passage of the Affirmative Action Bill into law to enable our women to realise their full potential and build a more inclusive society. We cannot turn a blind eye to the obvious that we need more women at decision-making levels in all facets of our national life.

Parliament can do us as a country a lot of good by passing the bill into law; after all, its passage is long overdue. Without gender equality today, a sustainable future and an equal future are beyond our reach.

Enough of the speeches and fine language. What we need now is action to ensure that every decision we take is all-inclusive and not a minority side taking decisions for the entire population.

We take this opportunity to wish our hardworking women a happy International Women's Day with the assurance that the Daily Graphic stands with you to ensure that the Affirmative Action Bill is passed into law.