Global event highlights achivements of women
For more than a century, the global community has celebrated International Women's Day (IWD), which highlights the social, cultural, economic and political achievements of women. Observed on March 8, the event also helps reflect on the advancement of women and advocacy for action, globally and at the local level.
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The 2016 theme for International Women’s Day is ‘Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality’, while Ghana’s adopted theme is ‘Gender Equality by 2030: Inclusion of all for Ghana’s Sustainable Development’.
The United Nations observance of this year’s event will reflect how to accelerate the 2030 Agenda, building momentum for the effective implementation of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are 17 new Global Goals, to guide development policy and funding through 2030.
The first IWD
International Women's Day first emerged from the activities of labour movements at the turn of the 20th century in North America and Europe. The earliest Women's Day observance was held on February 28, 1909 in New York, organised by the Socialist Party of America in remembrance of the 1908 strike of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
International Women's Day was celebrated for the first time by the United Nations in 1975. Then in December 1977, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women's Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by member states, in accordance with their historical and national traditions.
Women in pre-modern Ghanaian society were seen as bearers of children, retailers of fish, and farmers. However, over the years, they have contributed immensely in the fields of medicine, science, education, marketing, mass media etc. through education.
Fourth World Conference on Women
Ever since the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women was held in Beijing, China, in September 1995, popularly known as “Beijing Conference,” the women of many of African nations, including Ghana, have taken bold initiatives towards the empowerment of women as a necessary step towards the attainment of gender equity and women's equal partnership with men in nation building.
Studies by various gender-centred organisations in the country have confirmed that women's decision-making choices from the district to national levels are constrained by cultural taboos, traditional beliefs, discrimination against women, monetisation of electoral campaign, inadequate resources for women, partisan connection and consideration, high illiteracy rates, low public knowledge about human rights, lack of confidence to complete with men for fear of name calling and resistance from men among others.
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Undoubtedly, women are hard-working, and they have contributed immensely in the fields of medicine, science, education, marketing, mass media etc, yet women they go through unimaginable problems in holding leadership positions.
Support for women
The 2010 population census revealed that women constitute 51.4 per cent of the working age group in Ghana with 56.3 per cent forming the active population. Ninety-two per cent of the women are in non-wage (self-employed jobs compared to 69 per cent of the men) sector. That notwithstanding, Ghanaian women still occupy lower status as compared to men in areas of decision-making, in education, employment and politics.
This year, there is a pledge by all nations to help women and girls achieve their ambitions, challenge conscious and unconscious bias, call for gender-balanced leadership, value women and men's contributions equally and create inclusive, flexible cultures that would accelerate the growth, development and progress of women.
There is, therefore, the need to initiate mechanisms to increase women’s participation in elections at the district and national levels, by empowering them economically, politically and socially.
Commitment to global agenda
Speaking in an interview, the Minister of Gender Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, said the government and the people of Ghana, through the national machinery, were highly committed to the global agenda 2030 and the government had, therefore, integrated the agenda into national programmes.
She said the first objective was to strengthen national legal and policy framework to enhance gender-equality, with the formulation of two key pieces of legislation, namely, National Gender Policy and the Affirmative Action Bill, which she described as blueprint and the backbone for the attainment of Agenda 2030.
She said conscious efforts were being made to increase the number of women in positions of decision making at all levels, as well as the inclusion of marginalised and vulnerable persons in decision-making.
She said in the draft Affirmative Action Bill, the President directs that each district assembly should include at least one person with disability in the number of assembly members nominated, while 30 per cent of the nominees should be women.
She said to address the challenges of economic empowerment confronting women, efforts were being made to increase women’s access to micro credit, in addition to enhancing the financial inclusion of women, to mainstream women in the use of financial products, such as non-formal financial schemes, such as ‘susu’ schemes.
Female porters
On the issue of female porters, popularly known as kayayei, she said since it was not easily possible to send them back home, projects were being implemented to place a parity on their socio-economic empowerment, adding that 1,200 had been registered under the National Health Insurance Scheme at the Mallam Atta Market in Accra, while another 1,000 would be registered at the Kejetia Market in Kumasi by mid-year.
She also said the ministry, together with the Ministry of Youth and Employment, was to train about 9,000 kayayei in employment skills this year, while gender-based response centres had been set up at the Mallam Atta Market, with representatives from the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service and the education and health sectors, to provide them access to social services.
UN Secretary-General
In his message to mark the day, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, “We can only address these problems by empowering women as agents of change. For more than nine years, I have put this philosophy into practice at the United Nations. We have shattered so many glass ceilings we created a carpet of shards. Now we are sweeping away the assumptions and bias of the past so women can advance across new frontiers.”
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He said in poor parts of the world today, women still risked death in the process of giving life.
In her message, the UN Women Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, said, “Each one of us is needed – in our countries, communities, organisations, governments and in the United Nations – to ensure decisive, visible and measurable actions are taken under the banner: Planet 50-50: Step It Up for Gender Equality.”