Gender Minister presents key actions to improve gender equality

Madam Otiko Afisah Djaba, the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, has presented some key actions to be undertaken to enable Ghanaians work assiduously to ensure the empowerment and equality of women to contribute in national development.

At a press conference held in Accra on Wednesday, she said the decision was adopted to reaffirm the conclusions drawn at the close of the 62nd Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), to provide a comprehensive set of measures to eliminate discrimination, especially against rural women.

Madam Otiko said the frameworks and measures would make a crucial contribution to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

She said the draft agreed conclusions, reiterated 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.

Madam Otiko urged the key actors, which included Civil Servants, traditional leaders and all Ghanaians to undertake essential actions and follow the specific requirements to address the challenges.

She said all key actors must take action on existing commitments and obligations with respect to the realisation of gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls and their full enjoyment of all their human rights, which constitute an integrated framework that leaves no rural women or girls behind.

She encouraged all to strengthen and enforce laws, policies and regulations that prohibited discrimination against rural women and girls, women with disabilities and enhance gender-responsive rural development policies.

Madam Otiko said efforts to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence and harmful practices against rural women and girls must be accelerated, while legislative and administrative reforms to protect and promote their rights were also enforced.

She further encouraged the full participation of women and girls at all levels, to strengthen the coordination between national gender equality mechanisms, governmental institutions, as well as collaborations with non-governmental and civil society organizations.

The Gender Minister said there was also a call for the swift pursuance of macroeconomic policies that would support smallholder agricultural production, food security, nutrition, and ensure secured incomes of rural women and girls, and their communities, to mitigate the negative impact on international investment and trade rules.

“Invest in essential infrastructure, ICT, sustainable energy, sustainable transport and safely managed water and sanitation, including appropriate technology transfer, to improve the lives, livelihoods and wellbeing of all rural women and girls and Invest in services for care, education, and health, inclusive of sexual and wellbeing of all rural women and girls to eradicate violence against women”, she noted.

Madam Otiko said the elimination of policies and practices that condoned forced, trafficked and child labour in rural areas would increase the share of trade and procurement from rural women’s enterprises and cooperatives, and further foster their access to local, national and international markets.

She said: “We must strengthen the capacity of rural women and girls to respond to economic, political and social shocks, conflicts and humanitarian crises by providing essential infrastructure, services, decent work and social protection”.

Madam Otiko encouraged all to brace HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment and care in rural areas, including health and social services for rural women and girls.

She called for strengthened partnerships to eliminate gender disparities to ensure equal participation and access of rural women and girls to quality education at primary, secondary, vocational and technical levels.

Aside these, there must also be an expansion in the scope of Information and Communication Technology-enabled mobile learning and literacy training, in addition to the provision of good school infrastructure and quality teachers in rural areas to enhance girl’s education.