A Non-governmental organization, promoting women and children’s rights, SONGTABA, has organized a day’s zonal dialogue on the status of the Ghanaian woman.
The event, organized in Tamale was sponsored by StarGhana Foundation under the theme, “Status of the Ghanaian Woman; examining progress and prospects for gender equality in Ghana.”
About 100 women from smallholder farmer groups, community-based organizations and the business community from the Northern and Upper East Regions attended.
According to the Executive Director of SONGTABA, Hajia Lamnatu Adam, the dialogue sought to identify and find solutions to impediments to women’s empowerment.
She said majority of women in Ghana continued to be socially excluded from decision making despite Ghana being a signatory to the Beijing declaration of gender equality.
“After our declaration of equality from the Beijing platform of action, what has happened and how far have we come. We want to interrogate our socio-political status and so we are looking at leadership and governance, and we are also looking at economic empowerment. We have brought together these women so that the decision makers will listen to women from the grassroots.”
She further stated that the dialogue is intended to give the participants the opportunity to discuss political governance, economic rights and access to services.
“SONGTABA is bringing women from the Northern and the Upper East Regions for us to interrogate how far we have come as women, and we are doing this in collaboration with the Department of Gender and we are being supported by StarGhana Foundation.”
Hajia Lamnatu was optimistic that the outcomes will feed into an impending national dialogue to be organized by the StarGhana Foundation.
She asked the participants to actively engage in the dialogue and let their voices be heard.
On her part, Gender and Social Inclusion Officer with StarGhana Foundation, Safiah Musah, said the Foundation and its partners will continue to drive an active Ghanaian citizenry capable of driving their own development.
“Ghana’s drive towards gender equality has been a long, turbulent journey. State and Civil Society have implemented one intervention or another in response to this very important subject. 23 years ago, our country declared its commitment to gender equality in Beijing. That was a major epoch in our history. Again, our country is signatory to a host of affirmative conventions that seek to protect the rights of women, key among them being the UN Convention on elimination of all forms discrimination against women.”
She bemoaned Ghana’s global ranking on the promotion of gender equality saying, “Assessment of Ghana’s efforts at and progress in the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment presents mixed outcomes. In its recent Global Gender Gap Index, the World Economic Forum ranked Ghana 59th out of 144 countries. Ghana’s rank, however, for other international gender indexes have been less optimistic.”
“In 2014, the Social Institution Gender Index (SIGI) placed our country in the category of countries having high levels of gender discrimination in social institutions, which are characterized by discrimination embedded in customary laws, social norms and practices, and by inappropriate legal protection against gender discrimination in all dimensions of social institutions. A report by Oxfam revealed that inequality in Ghana is rising, with ‘women’s unequal position in society meaning that they have less power, money, land and other assets and protection from violence.”
Safiah Musah therefore renewed calls for the implementation of laws governing gender equality in Ghana.
“In spite of the existence of legal frameworks for gender equality, challenge still remains with their implementation. There exists the persistence of deeply rooted discriminatory social norms that disproportionately affect women.”
“How can legal and policy frameworks work for a more equal Ghana, where women and men live their full potentials without discrimination? And this is where the affirmative action bill cannot be disregarded. Ghanaians still look forward to the passage of the bill, even as it has unpardonably stalled. How can more accountability for gender equality and women’s empowerment be secured from national and local government? , she quizzed.
She extolled the zonal dialogues sponsored by StarGhana Foundation.
“We adopted the zonal approach to allow for wider discussion and dissection of the issues. We acknowledge that the experiences of Ghanaian women are not homogeneous. The cultural, social and economic realities of might differ significantly based on the different levels of education, location, age and status. This explains the mix of participants in the room today. We do not want to miss any voices. We do not want to leave any woman behind in this conversation.”
“The dialogues are expected to reactivate women’s collective action and movement to press for progress in achieving gender parity in Ghana’s socio-economic and political life.”
A gender equality and social inclusion expert, Justina Anglaare posited that women in Northern Ghana suffered the worst form of marginalization.
“Challenges in achieving gender equality and women empowerment in Northern Ghana are diverse. Systematic challenges and implementation gaps of government policies and programmes exist that instruct the achievements of intended results.”
She cited male dominance in northern societies as the root cause of gender inequalities and called for a paradigm shift.
“The price often paid by women and who exercise political leadership in Ghana can be huge and daunting. Women who manage to break through the political glass door have often had to defy the odds to take up political leadership positions under difficult circumstances.”
“They often have to surmount numerous socio-cultural, Traditional, religious and economic challenges. Some have suffered vilifications and broken marriages because they have dared as women to take up leadership positions in the public domain,” Madam Anglaare narrated.
The zonal dialogues are being organised in Wa, Kumasi, Kpong, Cape Coast and Tamale.
The expected outcomes will be used as the baseline for the intended national conference to be held in Accra.
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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah |citinewsroom.com |Ghana