Ghana Today, Friday, will join the global commemoration of the United Nations International Women’s Day, which falls annually on March 8, under various themes, to celebrate womanhood, as well as advocate for equality in all aspects.
On the day countries adopt and develop their own themes around the global topic and work to achieve the expected outcomes.
The global theme for the 2019 celebrations is “Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change,” and focuses on innovative ways in which gender advocates can advance gender equality and the empowerment of women, particularly in areas of social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure.
Various activities have been scheduled during the celebrations which included an inter schools’ debate centred around gender inequality which was organised by the Ministry of Gender Children and social Protection.
The UN Women however indicate that the theme therefore puts innovation by women and girls, for women and girls at the heart of efforts to achieve gender equality.
It said achieving a gender-equal world therefore required social innovations that worked for both women and men and leaves no one behind.
These start from urban planning that focuses on community safety to the e-learning platforms that take classrooms to women and girls, affordable and quality childcare centres, and technology shaped by women, innovation that can take the race for gender equality to its finishing line by 2030.
It also begins with making sure that women’s and girls’ needs and experiences are integrated at the very inception of technology and innovations, meaning the building of smart solutions that go beyond acknowledging the gender gaps to addressing the needs of men and women equally.
The UN Women said integrated approaches and new solutions, particularly when it comes to advancing gender and the empowerment of all women and girls must be the concern of all.
It said based on current trajectories, existing interventions would not suffice to achieve a Planet 50-50 by 2030, as innovative approaches that disrupted “business as usual” were central to removing structural barriers and ensuring that no woman and no girl was left behind.
