Former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, etched her name into virtual immortality with a significant contribution to the 12-point Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
At the Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women in 1995, commonly known as the Beijing Conference, 189 governments adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a landmark blueprint towards achieving gender equality.
The comprehensive document, which outlined 12 critical areas for action, such as poverty, education, health and violence against women, included strategic objectives and actions for governments and institutions to achieve gender equality.
“The girl-child” listed as the 12th point among the 12 critical areas of concern contained in the document, was the brain child of Ghana’s First Lady at the time, Nana Konadu, who became one of the prime faces of the gender equality campaign on the global stage,” the Executive Director of The Ark Foundation, Dr Angela Dwamena-Aboagye, who is also a women's rights and child protection advocate, confirmed to the Daily Graphic.
Following the passing of Nana Konadu in Accra last Thursday, Dr Dwamena-Aboagye said the former First Lady had left a legacy that must continue.
The girl-child
Citing examples, she said when the Platform for Action was being drawn at the Beijing Conference, “the girl-child” was forcefully advocated by Mrs Agyeman-Rawlings and subsequently adopted by the conference as a critical area necessary to address gender disparities.
“So, there was more focus on the girl-child. When she came back, she also mounted a campaign on girl-child education and many other things concerning the girl-child that have made a difference in the lives of many girls and women,” Dr Dwamena-Aboagye said.
She explained that Mrs Agyeman-Rawlings’ work on women’s economic empowerment, grassroots movements and push for girl-child rights and welfare at both international and local levels had resulted in many actions being taken in those areas.
The Platform for Action is considered a key agenda for women's empowerment and has been influential in shaping global policies and demanding accountability for gender equality.
It was the fourth World Conference on Women, but it turned out to be the most significant forum where women's empowerment gained full expression.
The Platform for Action identifies and provides specific goals for 12 areas requiring urgent action, including women and poverty, education and training of women, women and health, violence against women, women and the economy, and human rights of women.
For the Girl-Child, it calls for all barriers to be eliminated, enabling girls, without exception, to develop their full potential and skills through equal access to education and training, nutrition, physical and mental health care, and related information.
It further calls for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against the girl-child.
Among actions to be taken by governments, the declaration requires them to sign or ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Ghana has since done.
Legacy
Dr Dwamena-Aboagye, who was responding to questions about the legacy of Mrs Agyeman-Rawlings, both at the international and local levels in an interview, said at the national level, one of Mrs Agyeman-Rawlings’ legacy was her impact on local legislation for women, pointing out that the coming into being of the Intestate Succession Law, PNDC Law 111, was mainly through her effort.
“Not just the PNDC's effort, but mainly Mrs Agyeman-Rawlings' effort. The law has also influenced the drafting of other bills concerning property rights in this country and even influenced a lot of court decisions on inheritance rights,” she said.
Mrs Agyeman-Rawlings passed away last Thursday morning at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge Hospital) at the age of 76.
Dr Dwamena-Aboagye, who knew Mrs Agyeman-Rawlings at school and through acquaintances with her, described her as quiet and free-spirited in her engagement with people; fearless and one who backed her words with action.
She said she deserved to be celebrated for what she did.
“She was an unusual woman and an unusual First Lady.
If you see her status, she is very tiny, and you wouldn't think so much power was packed into such a tiny body.
But she was quite powerful in her convictions, and when she made up her mind about something, nothing was going to stop her.
I think it's important for women to cultivate this habit more and more”.
“It is not to be rude or aggressive, but to be able to state what it is that you think, the values you have, your principles, and do so boldly,” the lawyer and Christian theologian said.
She said even as a First Lady, Mrs Agyeman-Rawlings was an unusual one across the continen. She did not sit down but used her status to mobilise women into a movement and through that, did many things, including building markets, schools and crèches so that women could go to work and be able to take care of their children.
New generations
On the preparations made for the new generation to continue the work she began, the women’s rights advocate said the movement Mrs Agyeman-Rawlings started still existed and would continue.
Mrs Dwamena-Aboagye said both the former First Lady and women's human rights groups working on domestic violence, sexual and gender-based violence had trained many different advocates, including a lot of young people, and expressed the belief that they would carry on with the work done.
“I hope that they will also carry on with the work.
But even more important is that Ghana must remember its youth through documentation and publications, so that the kind of work that Mrs Agyeman-Rawlings did will continue,” she added.
On her work relationship with Mrs Rawlings, Dr Dwamena-Aboagye said she did not work so closely with her, but then her father was acquainted with Mrs Agyeman-Rawlings’ father quite closely.
Aside from that, she started nursery education at Mrs Agyeman-Rawlings’ mother’s nursery school, Tiny Tots, adding that her elder sisters were acquainted with Mrs Agyeman-Rawlings.
