Ghanaian women advised to invest in their children's education

Nkoranza (B/A), Dec. 28, GNA - Ghanaian women have been advised against spending lavishly on funerals, marriages, naming ceremonies and other social activities but rather invest in the education of their children, especially the girls to enhance the development of women. Mrs Joyce Boahen, Nkoranza District Director of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), who gave the advice, noted that poverty among women was partly caused by their inability to acquire adequate skills and knowledge to enable them to secure good employment.

She was speaking at a four-day women's ministry retreat, organised by the Nkoranza South District Seventh-Day Adventist Church at Nkoranza in the Brong-Ahafo Region on Friday.

Mrs Boahen appealed to men to respect the rights of women and urged traditional authorities to abolish all outmoded customs such as widowhood rites, female genital mutilation and child betrothal that affected the development of women.

She expressed regret that though these norms militated against the progress of women, some of them collaborated with men in perpetuating the practices.

Mrs Boahen advised young women who "play second fiddle" to married men to stop the practice and acquire the necessary skills and training so that they could get their own husbands.

She also asked women to respect the rights of the house helps by treating them with dignity and respect their husbands and support them in the management of their homes.

Pastor Martin Appiah Kyeremeh of the SDA Church, reiterated that the SDA Church: "does not encourage multiple marriages or divorce" and called on members to adhere to the laws and teachings of the Church. Pastor Daniel K. Marri also of the SDA Church said the Church blessed marriages that were properly contracted under the accepted marriage laws of the country including those by Ordinance or Custom.