Gender Ministry to launch ‘HeForShe’ campaign

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, in collaboration with the United Nations (UN) Women, will officially launch the ‘HeForShe Campaign’ in Ghana on December 12, to support the global ‘HeForShe’ campaign.

The campaign is aimed at mobilising two million men to support and empower women in order to contribute their quota to national development.

At the press launch of the campaign, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ms Otiko Afisah Djaba, said it would help make the attainment of gender equality a collective national responsibility and a mutual agenda for both men and women.

That, she said, could be achieved through early socialisation of boys and girls to believe that they were equal and entitled to equal opportunities.

“The objective of the campaign is to create a conducive and enabling environment where boys and men would rise up to support women,” she said.

Global representation

Ms Djaba indicated that the global representation of women in the public and political spheres was still low despite the efforts of international gender responsive policies.

“Globally, women’s participation and representation in political and public office is still low despite many efforts through international gender responsive policies such as the Beijing Platform of Action on Gender Equity, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Maputo Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa,” she said.
Additionally, Ms Djaba said the campaign was designed to garner male support to end negative traditional practices.

“In spite of laws and regulations criminalising negative traditional practices, some Ghanaians still perpetuated gender-based violence,” she noted.

Protection

According to Ms Djaba, the campaign would encourage men to be more responsible for their children and family needs to improve care and well-being and also curb the menace of street children.

“This will ensure a society that promotes respect for women and reciprocal respect for men.

“And also if that society respects the rights of children, it inadvertently eliminates any activity that are injurious, unhealthy and hazardous to children,” she said.
For her part, a representative from the UN Women, Ms Miriam Kamara, stated that the HeForShe campaign was a global platform which had been signed onto by a lot of countries to help empower women.

“The HeForShe Campaign will go a long way to make our future generation a better one,” she added.