Adjust labour laws to protect women - Chinery Hesse

Accra, March 13, GNA - Mrs. Mary Chinery Hesse, Chief Advisor to President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday advocated that laws in the country should be adjusted to define the proper role of women in national development.

She also requested that the labour laws should be looked at again to ensure proper protection for women and urged statisticians to capture their contributions to national development and enable government to place them appropriately in the development agenda.

Mrs Chinery Hesse noted that there were a lot of women working at various levels in the society who were not paid because their works were not counted. "Women are overworked in Africa," she added. Mrs Chinery Hesse was speaking at a day's seminar organized by the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs as part of the 50th independence anniversary Celebrations.

The seminar, which brought together about a thousand women in various classes of society, including school children, women parliamentarians, business women, disabled women, and housewives was used to discuss topics on: "Women's contribution to Ghana's Independence and Women's role in parliament.

Other topics discussed were: 93Women's contribution to economic development with particular emphasis on the private sector and women's contribution to the welfare of the family and women's achievement in Ghana after 50 years of independence."

Mrs Chinery Hesse, who is the first woman chief advisor to the President noted that childcare alone was a full time job for women not to mention caring for one's husband and housekeeping. She expressed concern about the poverty status of most women, which, she said, made them more vulnerable in society, and advised them to work harder to avoid situations where they would have to depend on someone for their livelihoods.

"Women are paid less than men in most part of the world. They remain in the lower and segregated labour markets," she said, but strongly advised; "Don't create situations where you always have to go to a man with a bowl in your hands."

"We need to be able to work as top executives in the society," she held and encouraged the youth to double up and worker harder to shed their dependency on men and resolve to earn their own income. Mrs Chinery Hesse also expressed worry about girl-child enrolment in schools and noted that girls constituted the majority of the 130 million children who lack access to schools in the world.

She coined the term "sandwich" for the current generation of women who did not only take care of children and family matters but also work to support the family, saying, "you can not do away with women, God fashioned them in a special way, God did not give all the skills to the men, He is a fair God."

Hajia Alima Mahama, Minister of Women and Children Affairs, explained that the seminar would be used as a forum to take stock of what women have done for the country and look forward to what can be done in the future given the right support and conducive environment. Recounting women's contribution to the economy, she said about 80 percent of women in Ghana were engaged in various economic activities and were predominant in the informal micro small to medium scale agriculture, manufacturing and services sector.

"Women are important actors in the food chain and are responsible for food security in Ghana. Most women are becoming increasingly responsible for the educational and other material needs of their wards," Hajia Mahama noted.

The Women's Minister said the adoption of the policy of gender mainstreaming by government as a cross cutting theme in all policies and programmes was significant.

Hajia Mahama mentioned the capitation grant; school feeding programme and free bus ride for school children as programmes that had brought an increase in enrolment, especially for girls.

She commended the media for highlighting issues of women and children and noted that without the media, progress made towards women empowerment and gender equality would not have been possible. Ms Joyce Aryee, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, speaking on the topic: "Women's contribution to Ghana's Independence and Democratic Governance" noted that it was time to change the story of Ghanaian politics to include women's contribution since they had done a lot.

"Women have paid their dues and should be put to test if they would not turn the country around," she said.

Ms Aryee said there was a time in the history of the country where women stood unopposed when they contested for parliamentary seats and called for re-introduction of such policies.

On the role of women in parliament, Mrs Gifty Kusi, Member of Parliament for Tarkwa Nsuem, said parliament would not have achieved much without the contribution of the women members. "Women in parliament serve as a voice to the voiceless and the vulnerable in society," she said, but expressed concern about women suffering from discriminatory laws. Mrs Kusi urged for more women parliamentarians to serve the agenda of the country better.