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A former minister of state, Elizabeth Akua Ohene has bemoaned the labelling of women as the gender created by God for the purpose of cooking.

According to Ohene, this labelling was wrong because there are men who like cooking and are even good at it than women.

“You know there are too many things that have been labelled female, …for example cooking, I don’t like cooking and I am not very good at it, and I don’t mind saying it.

“It is not true that every woman God made likes cooking or is good at it, but they have been frightened into this corner. So, whether they like cooking or not they must pretend or they dare not admit that they don’t like it. They dare not admit that they are not good at it, and it goes on,” asaaseradio.com quoted her as saying.

“….women have been conditioned that you dare not admit that you don’t like washing plates, or in the schools, they think the girls don’t like mathematics,” the former minister of state added, during an interview on the International Women’s Day with Asaase Radio.

Also, Elizabeth Ohene said that the Affirmative Action Bill has stalled in parliament because the male Members of Parliament do not see the need to pass it.

The former minister of state accused the male MPs of not being interested in passing the bill because there is nothing for them to gain when it is passed.

In response to a question on whether the bill will be passed by this parliament, Madam Ohene said that, “I am going to take a deep breath and I am going to say no because the men don’t think there is anything in it for them. They think that passing an affirmative action bill into an act means they have to give up something.

Elizabeth Ohene made these comments, highlighting the failure of successive governments to address the concerns of women by their failure to pass the Affirmative Action Bill as the world celebrates International Women’s Day.