The commemoration of the International Women’s Day should not only be full of flamboyant statements of mere rhetoric, but give women hope and assurance that they matter, Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) Ghana, a non-governmental organisation, said on Tuesday.
It said this could be done if the country respected conventions on women and provisions of the Beijing Platform for Action, which specifically stated that “empowerment and autonomy of women and the improvement of women’s social, economic and political status is essential for the achievement of both transparent and accountable government”.
A statement, issued on Tuesday by WiLDAF, and copied to the GNA said, Ghana should learn from countries like Burkina Faso and Uganda, which had Constitutional quotas; South Africa and Mozambique, which had political party quotas; and Rwanda, which had a combination of measures - reserved seats policy, executive appointment and across party women caucus.
WiLDAF expressed regret at the representation of women in the decision making spheres of the country, saying, it did not reflect the country’s position as “the First Born, Black shining Star and the Beacon of Democracy in Africa”. This also questioned the country’s commitment to gender equality.
It noted that there were only 19 women MPs in the 230 House, only 14 women in the 75 ministerial positions, while some Government Boards like the Pharmacy Council, Grains and Legumes, and the Ghana Water and Sanitation Boards had no female representatives.
This year marks the centenary celebration of the International Women’s Day (IWD), and it is being celebrated under the global theme; “Equal Access to Education, Training and Science and Technology: Pathway to decent work for Women.”
The year also marks the beginning of the African Women’s Decade while the theme for this year’s Commonwealth Day is “Women as Agents of Change.”
The statement noted that perhaps 2011 was dedicated to celebrating women and called for a more concerted and coordinated effort towards their total development.
“It is a time when women of all continents, irrespective of their socio-cultural and linguistic, or political and academic backgrounds, come together to look back and evaluate their struggles for equality, justice, peace and development.”
WiLDAF said the Day, coming two days after the celebration of Ghana’s 54th Independence, called for stocktaking on the status of Ghanaian Women, vis-à-vis their contribution to the development of the country since independence, within the framework of the many international and regional instruments the nation was signatory to.
“It is the fervent hope of the women of Ghana that the high figures of endemic poverty, stark illiteracy, acute maternal mortality and HIV/AIDS, astronomical figures of abused women, abysmal figures of women in decision making and the like would all be history.”