The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) has held community dialogue sessions at Winneba and Mankessim in the Central Region during which issues on women empowerment, sexual and gender-based violence and teenage pregnancy were discussed.
The event, which was attended by the general public, including schoolchildren, faith-based organisations, civil society organisations, women groups and chiefs, was organised by the ministry with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Essence of the programme The essence of the dialogue was to provide an opportunity for the participants to brainstorm on the issues, following the increasing spate of gender-based violence, teenage pregnancy and the quest to empower women in the country.
Addressing the sessions, a Deputy Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Mr John Alexander Ackon, underscored the importance of women empowerment as a positive step to enhance their meaningful contribution to national development.
According to him, there was no doubt that when women were given opportunities to study, work and lead a brighter future could be unlocked.
Access to formal education He noted that access to formal education was the sure foundation upon which women could be empowered economically and politically and added that ‘’educated women would naturally invest more resources in their families and children to attain higher heights in future’’.
Mr Ackon noted that in spite of the resourcefulness of women, certain age-old factors continued to hamper their empowerment, particularly sexual and gender-based violence, and stressed that unequal power relation among men and women was largely the root causes of sexual and gender-based violence which had led to male dominance and control over women.
Ministry’s interventions He said the ministry was working to get women empowered in all aspects of life by putting in place the necessary policies and legal framework to protect the interest of women.
Again, Mr Ackon said the ministry, in collaboration with the ECOWAS Gender Development Centre, had awarded scholarship to 10 girls from the 10 regions who were pursuing science and technical courses at various senior high schools.
Health Promotion Officer Miss Anna Obir-Bonney of the Effutu Municipal Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) bemoaned the increasing rate of teenage pregnancy within the municipality.
She indicated that in 2012, 506 teenage pregnancies were recorded which reduced to 338 in 2013 and rose again to 488 in 2014.
She expressed worry about the figures and advised the teenage girls against pre-marital sex since it had the tendency to negatively affect their progress in the future.
Neenyi Ghartey The Omanhene of the Effutu Traditional Area, Neenyi Ghartey VII, who chaired the function, urged parents to always strive to provide the best of care for their children to enable them to focus on their education, indicating that it was important that parents invested meaningfully in the education of their children.
Some of the participants were of the view that certain traditional beliefs and cultural practices were negatively preventing efforts towards women’s empowerment.
They noted that for women to take their rightful places in the society, certain cultural practices such as female genital mutilation, trokosi system, witch camps, among others should be stopped.
They called on the government to provide the necessary framework that would ensure that women were always supported to achieve their full potentials in life.
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