Madam Otiko, who made the appeal at a press briefing in Accra, on Ghana’s participation at the just ended United Nation’s 62nd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW62), which took place in New York, from March 12 to 23, 2018, urged the media, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and traditional leaders to take up the challenge.

She said although lots of efforts and progress had been made over the years towards achieving the goal, there was the need to sustain the momentum in order to ensure the passage of the Affirmative Action Bill, to give a strong legal backing to gender issues in Ghana.

She said the Session which was on the theme: “Challenges and Opportunities in Achieving Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Rural Women and Girls”, focused on the need to give much impetus to females, especially those living in rural communities, to protect and promote their rights and welfare.

Madam Otiko said the CSW62 reaffirmed the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocols.

It further reiterated other relevant conventions and treaties, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. These, she said provides an international legal framework and a comprehensive set of measures for realizing gender equality, the empowerment of women and girls and the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all women and girls, including rural women and girls, throughout their life cycle.

She said these frameworks and measures would also make a crucial contribution to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. According to her, there was also a call on Governments, Non-Governmental Organizations, CSOs and related actors to work in partnership, to address challenges facing rural women and girls in the area of health, education, economic empowerment, employment, discrimination and violence, public life, negative and harmful socio-cultural practices among others.

Ghana participated in all the high level sessions and in various side events organized by Governments, Institutions, Development Partners and other internationally recognized CSOs such as the United Nations, UNFPA, African Women Leaders Network, UNAIDS, Nigerian Mission, South African Development Community and Sight Savers among others, and mounted an exhibition showcasing some produce by some rural women.

She said Ghana’s statement on the theme at one of the conferences, highlighted the opportunities that had been created by the Government to enhance the status of rural women and girls, and discussed the challenges and the way forward in empowering these vulnerable groups.

She said other presentations also talked about the role of women and girls as game changers in the poverty eradication in the country’s rural areas. Madam Otiko said other issues discussed included efforts being made by the government to end negative and harmful cultural practices and taboos such as Child Marriage, fistula, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), child servitude, widowhood rites and witchcraft accusations.

She said Ghana had developed a five-year National Strategic Framework on Ending Child Marriage alongside a two-year Work Plan to roll out a strategy at the national, regional and district levels to achieve this goal. She said, Ghana and Africa should not allow our beliefs and taboos to deter us from being game changers”, but to make free education key to increase access for females.

By Christabel Addo/ Thelma Abbey, GNA