Ghana reviews achievements in promoting gender equality
The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCP) is to launch the 40th anniversary celebration of the national gender machinery on April 21 with the view to review achievements made by Ghana in promoting gender equality and women empowerment.
Advertisement
The occasion will provide a platform for the evaluation of the prospects for achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment and also to review the achievements and challenges in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that relate to women and girls.
A Deputy Minister of the ministry, Mrs Della Sowah, announced this when she addressed a national seminar on the theme, “Breaking the barriers towards gender equality: Picture it” to mark the International Women’s Day at Hohoe in the Volta Region.
She said the celebration would provide an opportunity for all to rally for more support to accelerate the processes towards gender equality and women’s empowerment with respect to the post 2015 Development Agenda of the Beijing Declaration.
Barriers of inequality
Mrs Sowah, is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kpando. She said the National Women’s Machineries (NWM), which started with the establishment of the National Council for Women and Development (NCWD) in 1975 to break the barrier of inequality and to promote the advancement of women through empowerment, were central to the integration of women in national development.
She said the NCWD metamorphosed into the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs in 2001 and then recently to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection with a three-fold mandate.
The deputy minister said the realignment of the ministry was aimed at providing interventions for the empowerment of women, adding that over 69,292 women had benefited as compared to 21,503 men under the LEAP programme.
Participation
She said the key gender issue confronting the nation was the low participation of women in politics at the local and national levels, and stressed the need to encourage more women to present themselves for elections, especially when the district assembly elections had been postponed and fresh nominations are to be made.
Other Trending Stories
In an address, the deputy Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr (Mrs) Beatrice Adiku-Heloo, urged women to discard the notion that women were their own enemies and get united.
She said all barriers needed to be broken at workplaces, villages, homes and other areas, adding that women should identify obstacles that stood in their way, urging all queenmothers, women organisers to forge ahead to break those barriers.
Dr Adiko-Heloo, who is also the MP for Hohoe, said women should not underestimate themselves in the crusade until victory was achieved.
The representative of UN System in Ghana, Dr Wolfgang Hass, commended Ghana for making significant strides in promoting gender equality, particularly with the enactment of legislations that were gender-friendly.
In a welcome address, the Ho Municipal Chief Executive, Mrs Fafa Adinyira, said since independence, some Ghanaian women had broken barriers in many fields of endeavour and indicated that currently, there were six female municipal and district chief executives, four MPs, one regional minister, and two deputy ministers from the Volta Region.
Role models
Three role models recounted their experiences at the seminar. They were the Paramount queen of Akpafu Traditional Area, Bonyi Ilato V; a successful entrepreneur, Madam Charity Woayor and a former Presiding Member of Hohoe Municipal Assembly, Ms Edith Akpoto.