Members of Parliament on Thursday marked the 2016 International Women's Day, calling on women, gender activists and organisations to take urgent steps to achieve gender parity by 2030, and deal with practices that negatively affect women.
“We wish to encourage them (women) to continue our commitment to influence and take pragmatic actions to accelerate gender parity by 2030 and the successful attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals,” Hajia Mary Salifu Boforo, Chairperson of the Women’s Caucus said in a statement, on the floor, to mark the day.
Members acknowledged the contributions made by women towards national development and called for more to be done to ensure gender equality and empowerment.
International Women's Day is marked on March 8, every year, to celebrate the contributions of women to the socio-economic and political achievements of their nations.
It is also a day for reflection and renewal of commitments towards the achievement of gender parity in all spheres of human endeavour.
The global theme adopted by the United Nations for this year is: "Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step it up for gender equality.”
Ghana has, however, chosen the theme: "Gender equality by 2030: Inclusion of all for Ghana's sustainable development.”
Hajia Boforo said Ghana has much to celebrate but progress towards achieving gender parity has slowed in many areas.
She said the UN's World Economic Forum, in 2015, forecasted that it would take 117 years for global gender parity to be achieved.
The Chairperson, who is also MP for Savelugu Constituency in the Northern Region, said she was concerned as a woman, a mother and a legislator by that projection.
“The revelation signals to me that for the next century, women who constitute half of the world's population, may be excluded from the developmental process.
“Despite this revelation, I still have hope. I believe that achieving gender parity by 2030 declared in Ghana's theme for this year's celebration is possible, if every man and woman in this country can pledge to take concrete steps individually and collectively now.
“I, however, admit that attaining this objective is not going to be easy. Challenges rooted in our culture still remain; our young girls are still being forced into early marriages and our women are still battered by their parents and husbands,” she said.
The Savelugu Constituency MP said the nation needs to collectively tackle those issues in order to succeed in keeping the promise of its young girls alive.
Hajia Boforo said at the heart of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) was the economic empowerment of women and added that through the social intervention programmes of both past and present governments, such as the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) and the Local Enterprise Skills Development Programme (LESDEP), many women were being economically empowered.
"To sustain these achievements and further empower women, we need to eradicate the socio-cultural practices, norms and societal attitudes that discourage women from engaging in wage employment in some occupations such as driving, welding and auto mechanics,” she said.
On this year’s parliamentary elections, Mrs Boforo said the election process would present another critical opportunity to increase the number of women in the House as the country made efforts to achieve gender parity.
“It is time this country improves upon the 10.9 per cent representation of women in Parliament,” she said.
Most of the contributors, namely Mrs Gifty Eugenia Kusi, (NPP, Tarkwa Nsuaem); Mrs Laadi Ayii Ayamba, (NDC, Pusiga); Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover, (NPP, Tema East); Mrs Elizabeth Sackey, (NPP, Okaikwei North); Nii Amasa Namoale, (NDC, La Dadekotopon) noted, among other things, that the major political parties in Ghana, before they assumed power, promised to increase the participation of women in government but have not fulfilled the promise.
They observed that although women, in recent times, have been appointed Chief Justice and Speaker of Parliament, and had assumed other leadership positions, much more was needed to be done.
They also advocated for the increase of resources to the Domestic Violence Victims Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service to enable it to carry out its mandate effectively.
Most of the women wore beautiful Angelina dresses into the chamber to mark the day.
<<Print>>