Ghanaians have been asked to be advocates and champions of women empowerment in their communities so that together we can improve the welfare of women in the country.
The Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, Amidu Chinnia Issahaku who made the call said in spite of the unique role women play in the development of our communities, they are yet to be fully recognized and given their due in our national development effort.
He was speaking at a dialogue on status of the Ghanaian woman in Wa in the Upper West Region.
Mr. Issahaku observed that most women particularly those in rural areas are still denied access to land for farming and other economic ventures.
“They also find it difficult to secure loans from financial institutions to support their income generating activities and are still prevented from taking part in decision making at the home and other levels, he added.
The Deputy Minister said though a lot has been done by various agencies in the country to reverse the marginalization of women, much remains to be done to empower our women”.
Mr. Issahaku appealed to traditional authorities in Upper West help to eliminate all negative cultural practices against women in the region.
The Executive Director of Womens Integrated Development Organization (WIDO), David Bagonluri Paapa regretted that out of the eleven MDCEs in Upper West, only two of them are women and called on men to give maximum support and encouragement to women, noting that the holistic development of the woman is to the benefit of the man.
Once the woman is developed, the benefits trigger to the whole family, the whole benefits from the woman, the Executive Director added.
Mr. Bagonluri stated that where we see the woman as something we can control, then, it means we dont want to develop, we are staggering development.
He stressed that capacity building of the rural poor is at the core of what WIDO stands for and as result, the invitation to the dialogue session for the Upper West Region, cut across diverse backgrounds with particular emphasis on the grassroots.
Touching on the dialogue, the Executive Director of WIDO pointed out that it will capture the voices of Ghanaian women indicating where they feel they are as well as the associated challenges and how to address the challenges.
Mr. Bagonluri was very thankful for the collaboration between STAR-Ghana, WIDO and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to ensure that the development of the country is experienced equally between women and men.
The Programme Officer of STAR-Ghana Foundation, Safia Musah was of the view that in spite of the existence of legal frameworks for gender equality, there is a challenge in respect of their implementation.
There exists the persistence of deeply rooted discriminatory social norms that disproportionately affect women.
She observed that gender equality and social inclusion is a critical subject which government and citizens must engage on, saying, we cannot say we are developing when over 50% of the population is not fully involved in the development process of the country.
“We cannot say we are doing our best when more than half of us are lagging behind”, Ms. Musah emphasized.
These sorts of conversations are to help us draw our energies, see where we are doing well, register the gaps and then and put together the needed steps to deal with the difficulties we have.
She indicated that policy makers will be engaged to finds ways of mainstreaming their [womens] perspectives in the purview of national development.
Ms. Musah intimated that STAR-Ghana Foundation through its donor organizations like European Union, UKaid, Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) will continue to support CSOs in Ghana to drive the socio-economic advancement agenda of the country through the citizenry.
The group discussions centered on womens Economic Rights, Decision-making and Political Power and Access to Essential Services- Health and Education.
The theme for the session was “Status of the Ghanaian woman; Examining the Progress and Prospects for Gender Equality in Ghana” and more than 100 people participated in the event.
Story and pictures by Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo
