A Thirteen (13)-year old Poetess, Muyassar Delimwine Abdul-Moomin has called Ghanaians to deconstruct age-old stereotypes within society which according to her, have prevented both sexes from reaching their full potential.
She stressed the need for a gender-blind society where individuals are given equal opportunities irrespective of their genders.
Miss Abdul-Moomin added that statements like ‘men do not cry’ or ‘speak like a man’ should be eschewed in the Ghanaian society as it limits men from being who they are or expressing feelings that are ‘human’.
The Poetess said this while interacting with students of Zinye D/A Primary and JHS at Zinye in the Wa East District on the International Day of the Girl Child.
The International Day of the Girl Child is celebrated every year since October 2012.
The celebration of the day is to serve as a reminder to societies across the globe that there is a need for conscious efforts to remove barriers that prevent people particularly females from enjoying the rights and freedoms their male counterparts enjoy.
As part of the celebration in the Upper West Region, the Gender Department interacted with pupils of the Zinye D/A Primary and JHS. The interaction served as a precursor to a grand durbar to be held with the chiefs and people of Zinye.
The Poetess, who doubles as the Girls Prefect for ‘Our Home Primary and JHS’ at Wa, used the opportunity to encourage her colleagues to make friends that will help them excel in their academics.
“We should also make friends with people that will help us in our academic work, we should not make friends just for friendship sake,” she stressed.
The Upper West Regional Gender Desk Officer, Charity Batuure applauded the Ghanaian society for gradually accepting the concept of gender equality explaining that the “Ghanaian populace is becoming aware of the issues of gender.
“Our main ways of socialization has been skewed to favor of men, but we are gradually getting people to have a change in attitude and change in behaviour. Issues of behavioural change is not a one day thing and we [Ghanaians] are becoming aware of the things we need to improve and those we need to do away with”.
She admitted that although there is still a long way to go, gains have been made in encouraging equal rights for both sexes predominantly in the area of education saying that “as a country, there has been a lot of interventions geared at ensuring that girls are in school. The latest it is the Free SHS which would ensure that everybody is in school”.
Mad. Batuure added that as a Ministry:, “we are interested in the growth of both sexes but there is a deliberate effort being made to ensure that the girl child stays in school, is able to climb the academic ladder and makes impact in society”.
Madam Charity Batuure again commended families in the Upper West Region for allowing more girls to pursue education beyond the basic level.
Story filed by Mark Smith
