The call comes as the nation joined the rest of the continent to commemorate African Women’s Day.  The event is marked every year to celebrate the achievements of women and create avenues to empower them. Mrs. Jackson, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi, asked that the society moved quickly to tear down barriers to the development of women.

She condemned cultural practices that tended to physically and psychologically hurt and hold them back. She was particularly unhappy with the continued performance of widowhood rights, female genital mutilation and girl-child marriages and said these should stop.

“Women and men together, have to be enlightened to respect each other’s rights so they see themselves as team players and not a master and a subject kind of relationship.”  Mrs. Jackson urged increased education to help protect them from abuse and provide the opportunity to lift them out of poverty.

Laws enacted to give protection to women and children should be strictly enforced, she added.  She noted that, given space, “women could do more to support the socio-economic progress of the country”.