Ghana meets MDGs and targets set in the Beijing Platform for Action
Ghana has been successful in meeting the MDGs and the targets set in the Beijing Platform for Action, Nana Oye Lithur, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Welfare, Nana Oye Lithur has reported to the United Nations (UN) Commission on the Status of Women at its 59th session underway at the UN headquarters.
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Presenting Ghana’s statement at the 59th session of the UN body tasked with the promotion of gender quality and the empowerment of women, she said the country made these significant gains by strategically incorporating the targets of the MDGs and the Beijing Platform of Action into its national development frameworks
“Ghana is noted as the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to have achieved the MDG 1 target of halving the population living in extreme poverty ahead of 2015. The country is also on course to achieve two out of the three targets on child malnutrition,” she added.
According to the minister, this has been made possible as a result due to a number of policy and social protection interventions by Government, the major one being the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP).
Education and Gender based violence
Regarding education, the minister reported that Government is working to improve the quality of education, especially at the basic level, and the gender gap in school enrolment has been narrowing in recent years.
“To bridge the gender gap in access to education, a total of 15,700 girls from junior high schools have benefited from scholarships through the Participatory Approach to Student Success,” she stated.
Elimination of violence against women is also a matter of priority for the Government of Ghana she said, explaining that this has been demonstrated with the strengthening of the legal and policy framework in the areas of domestic violence and human trafficking.
“The Human Trafficking Legislative Instrument and the Domestic Violence Legislative Instrument have been forwarded to the Parliamentary Subsidiary Legislation Committee for consideration,” she expanded.
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In addition, legislative interventions, including the amendment of the Intestate Succession Law and the introduction of a Property Rights of Spouses Bill, which are currently before Parliament are being pursued to address harmful social and cultural practices which perpetuate subjugation of and violence against women
Women’s Health
In relation to women’s, trends in the maternal mortality ratio have shown a consistent decline since 1990 and also a drop in institutional neonatal mortality from 5.8 per 1000 live births in 2012 to 2.3 per 1000 in 2015.
Touching on gender equality and empowerment of women, particularly in decision-making, the women’s machinery is sponsoring the Affirmative Action Bill and the Judiciary has also made significant contributions into the protection of women’s property rights, as guaranteed in Article 22 of the 1992 Constitution.
For the first time in Ghana’s history there have been an unprecedented number of appointments of women to key top public offices and the inclusion of queenmothers in the National and Regional Houses of Chiefs marks a significant step in strengthening their role in national and traditional governance., Nana Oye stated.
ECOWAS Gender ministers
Nana Oye , who is currently the President of the Forum of ECOWAS Ministers of Social Development and Chairperson of ECOWAS Ministers in charge of Gender, highlighted the impact of the recent ebola outbreak in West Africa on women and urged, that gender equality and women’s participation should be integrated in the management of the Ebola crisis.
The Minister called for the strengthening of institutional frameworks and increased government resources for realising women’s and girl’s equality and empowerment in addition to the effective implementation of the legal and policy frameworks at national, regional and international levels.” she stated
“Gender equality and human rights of women and girls are as relevant for our empowerment as they were 20 years ago at Beijing. Women’s health and our reproductive rights are equally critical. This Session is particularly important for us in Ghana because we not only commemorate 20 years of national implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action but 40 years of the National Women’s Machinery.,” she added.
She further called on Member States to double their efforts towards implementation of CEDAW and the Beijing Platform for Action to the greater benefit of the girl-child. Because “as we look forward to the post-2015 agenda for the MDGs, in the face of emerging socio-economic and political challenges, it becomes imperative that we adopt radical solutions, which will task our resources and imagination, to combat their debilitating effects on women and girls.”