Vice Presidential Candidate of the NDC, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang has called on the nation not to fail in giving girls and women greater representation and participation in decision-making at the national level.
In a statement Sunday, October 11, to mark this year’s International Day of the Girl Child, Prof. Opoku Agyemang bemoaned the harsh effects of the coronavirus on the lives and livelihoods of many women and girls around the world.
She said the pandemic continues to have a disproportionate effect on the future and fortunes of young girls and is worsening the already unacceptable social inequalities that prevail against them.
The NDC Vice Presidential candidate believes it is about time Ghana had a national conversation about why girls continue to face these barriers to their progress.
She said challenges such as poverty, physical and sexual abuse and harmful cultural practices against girls must be given serious attention since they retard progress for equal opportunities.
She promised that the NDC if voted into power will pass into law the Affirmative Action Bill and execute its plan to provide free sanitary pads to girls in basic schools.
The NDC, she said, will also invest in infrastructure and teacher training to improve quality and access at the basic level of education.
It will also propose a bill to address sexual harassment in schools, whiles coming up with support and protection programmes for victims of domestic violence. She said these are not political promises, but rather moral obligation which will be fulfilled.
