Gender, Children and Social Protection Minister, Otiko Afisah Djaba vouched to push for the quick passage of the Affirmative Action Bill to further advance the course of women empowerment.

Otiko Djaba noted her Ministry is working assiduously to get the Bill to Cabinet for finalisation and approval.

As part of efforts to operationalise the principles of the Affirmative Action Bill, Otiko Djaba noted that her outfit launched a campaign dubbed "He-For-She"

The campaign was aimed at sensitising male-child to appreciate and support the girl-child in all endeavours so they could act as ambassadors for achieving the goal.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament on the occasion of International Women's Day, Gender Minister recounted "the Ministry has strived through its programmes to empower women, improved legal and policy framework to protect women and capacity building of vulnerable women to cater for themselves and their families. The Ministry launched the He-For-She initiative to identify male ambassadors to pledge and commit to working towards gender equality, support the Affirmative Action Bill and promote the President’s agenda as African Union Gender Champion and Sustainable Development Goal Co-Chair. The Ministry worked tirelessly to finalize and submit for Cabinet approval the Affirmative Action Bill. The climax of the 2017 Sixteen Days of Activism was climaxed with a community durbar in Assin Adadeitem (where a 4-year-old girl was defiled) to raise awareness on the negative effect of sexual based-violence" as some successes chalked in the course of 2017.

The International Women's Day marked around the globe on March 8 to celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women, past, present and future and most significantly to draw the world’s attention to areas requiring further action, and the need to accelerate gender parity.

Gender Minister explained that to reflect the Ghana situation, a theme was deduced from the world theme to rally all stakeholders together.

"The 2018 global theme for the IWD is “Time is Now: Rural and urban activities transforming women’s lives”. To reflect in Ghana’s situation, We have adopted a national theme:” #WomenToo - Press for Progress as Game Changers in Development”. The two themes seek to highlight the need to empower women in all settings to play active role in uplifting women from poverty and to be change agents in their own development." Otiko Djaba told Parliament.

To improve the lot of women in Ghana, Gender Minister assured that she was focused on instituting programmes that will ensure women, rural or urban, have equal opportunities as men.

She praised the efforts of women and their contribution to building a strong, resilient economy stating, "In Ghana, the situation of women is not different. The Economy of Ghana thrives largely on the informal sector which is dominated by women. This sector is characterized by inadequate regulatory frameworks and higher risks, making women poor and vulnerable."

"We take this opportunity to congratulate all women in Ghana for their contribution so far in national development and the empowerment of women in Ghana. We encourage all women to be game changers in development where ever they find themselves," she added

Otiko Djaba also urged all and sundry to support in whatever way possible to the success of her latest project to get children off the street-themed “Operation Get off the Street Now for a Better Life”.