Girls have been reminded that the place of a woman cannot be limited to the kitchen and therefore urged them to reject that stereotype and pursue education to brighten their future.
Mrs. Juliana Abbey Quaye, Eastern Regional Director of the Department of Gender under Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, who made the call said, education guaranteed better outcomes “even in the management of the kitchen”.
She called on girls to concentrate on their education and not to give in to any social vice which will derail their education and the foundation of their empowerment to be self-reliant in the future.
Mrs Abbey Quaye who expressed worry at the rate of teenage pregnancies recorded in the Region said the trend had the potential to derail efforts in girls’ education and empowerment and called for concerted effort to address the issues holistically.
She was speaking on the sidelines of a Girls’ Empowerment Summit at Oyoko in the New Juaben North Municipality to sensitize school girls in first and second schools, selected from four districts in the region on the effects of teenage pregnancies and child marriages on their education and development.
She said many girls were made to believe that their place is in the kitchen and that education was for boys which leads to a high rate of girls dropping out of school due to teenage pregnancies and marriages.
Mrs Abbey Quaye told the participants that as they mature from childhood onto adulthood and as adolescents, social vices such as school dropouts, teenage pregnancies, drug abuse among others, would compete with their dreams and aspirations to success, but one surest way to overcome all these was the determination to pursue education.
The summit is part of a series of activities by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to address Gender-Based Violence among others which often resulted in teenage pregnancies and child marriages and all forms of an impediment to ensure girls stayed in school.
The participants at the summit were taken through Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, Teenage Pregnancies and Child marriage, Career Mentorship and lifestyle and grooming to raise the awareness of tendencies that could derail their education and dreams for the future.
Police Superintendent Mrs Florence Anaman, Eastern Regional Coordinator of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit, (DOVVSU) said people often refused to report such cases for fear of stigma and some societal norms.
She said however that reporting allows for the necessary remedial measures to be taken to ensure that such an act was not repeated.
She said the Police were there to help victims of crime to get redress and urged the participants to educate their parents and communities on the need to report crimes especially gender-based violence against girls which often ends in teenage pregnancies and child marriages.
