He said despite the challenges women faced, they remained good managers at home and contributed immensely to the socio-economic well-being of the society.

According to him the domestic roles and contributions of women augmented the efforts of government through the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and the other state-established institutions and organisations for the holistic development of the country.

Mr. Tontie made the call when he was speaking at a regional stakeholders' dialogue to commemorate the 2019 International Women's Day under the theme, "Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change to Reduce the Burden of Care on Women and Girls" at Abesim, near Sunyani.

Organised by AAG, a civil society organisation, the programme was attended by 40 participants who were drawn from Sunyani Municipality, Odumase in the Sunyani West District and Nsawkaw in the Tain District of Brong Region and Kenyase Number One and Kenyase Number Two in the Asutifi North District of the newly-created Ahafo Region.

They comprised heads of departments and institutions, a selected number of youth activists, representatives of women associations including Police and Fire Services' Wives Associations, beauticians and the media. 

It aimed among others at creating awareness and opportunity to highlight the structural inequalities and discrimination that women faced in the society and the need to ensure the implementation of the provisions of women-centred protocols and conventions ratified by the government.

Mr Tontie said research had shown that women in rural communities spent more of their times in child-caring, fuel wood collection and fetching of water and emphasised that economic rights of women were being undermined and unrecognised by the burden of unpaid domestic work.

He observed unpaid care work and violence perpetuated against women and girls manifested physically and physiologically to suppress them.

Mr Tontie therefore appealed to the Regional Coordinating Councils to facilitate for the MMDAs to include the provision of social interventions such as child care centres, energy saving and water supply facilities in their short-medium term development plans to assist in relieving women of the burden and stress resulting from the unpaid domestic work.

Nana Abenaa Boatemaa, the paramount queen of Odumase Number One Traditional Area advised women to appreciate the jobs and contributions offered by their housemaids and treat them equally as their children, saying that would enable them also to become great women in future.