International Women’s Day is celebrated on the 8th of March every year to reflect on progress made on the advancement of women’s human rights, celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities.
With 2015 being the end year to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), this year’s International Women’s Day is an opportunity to review the progress and challenges since the Beijing Plan of Action was endorsed some 20+ years ago.
The global theme for the 2015 International Women’s Day is “Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity; Picture it!
Under the local theme, “Beijing+20, Advancing Women’s Empowerment,” the International Women’s Day 2015 seeks to take stock of Ghana’s achievement in women’s empowerment since the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995.
Ghana’s achievements since the Beijing conference include:
1. The establishment of the Ministry of Women and Children’s affairs, now Gender, Children and Social Protection to ensure the mainstreaming of gender issues in all policies and programs
2. The passage of key legislations including the Domestic Violence Act 2007, the Human Trafficking Act, 2005, key amendments to some legislations, including the Criminal Offences Act 1960 proscribing negative cultural practices like female genital mutilation, early and forced marriage and, some cultural practices which promote enslavement of women and, the Intestate Succession Law, 1985 (PNDCL 111).
3. Commencement of key legislations and reforms including the Affirmative Action Bill, Property Rights of Spouses Bill and Intestate Succession Bill (review of the PNDCL 111), the Ghana AIDS Commission Act (review) which addresses issues on HIV particularly for the benefit of women who are more susceptible to HIV infection, Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking Legislative Instruments.
4. Economic and political empowerment of women through improved access to education for women, skills training, access to micro credit and appointment of women to key political decision making positions.
5. A decline of major health conditions affecting women: maternal mortality from 740 in 2000 to 350 per 100,000 live births in 2013, HIV prevalence from 3.6% in 2003 to 1.3% in 2013 which reflects in reduction of the prevalence among women and
6. Increased intervention measures to prevent mother to child transmission and also to keep the mother alive through the roll out of the Option B+ and, social protection measures (cash transfer) to HIV affected households
7. The creation of the ICT programs to expose girls to ICT opportunities
8. The creation of the Girls’ Unit within the Ghana Education Service to promote girl child education.
Despite these achievements, challenges remain in the implementation of the Beijing POA in Ghana:-
1. Low representation of women in key decision making positions which is currently 10.9%, below the 30% target
2. Persisting and widely accepted patriarchal social set ups that affects women’s ability to make decisions even at the household level including inability to negotiate safe sex and early and forced marriage. This ultimately leads to some challenges encountered in the enforcement of gender related laws
3. Inadequate gender disaggregated data
4. Low levels of economic empowerment of empowerment. About 84 per cent of active Ghanaian female population are considered to be engaged in vulnerable employment.
As we acknowledge these successes and challenges, a consortium comprising key government institutions- Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General, the Ghana AIDS Commission and, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly; and organisations in development and the private sector- African Women’s Development Bank, MTN, STRATCOMM Africa, Golden Movie Awards, select female media personalities, Moremi Initiative, the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office and UNAIDS, have planned four main events for the month of March towards the celebration of the Ghanaian woman. The collaboration and commitment to work jointly in this celebration acknowledges the synergies and linkages of women’s issues in all spheres of life from the socio-economic to the health sector.
The planned activities are, a panel discussion/debate, #MyDressMyChoice, to generate discussions around the woman’s ability to choose her clothing, Women’s Heath Walk which will be followed by a drama skit with women’s empowerment messages and HIV testing and education opportunities; corporate women’s dinner and movie screening; and, TV engagement with senior and young women leaders on Viasat 1’s ‘Good Morning’ show every Wednesday in the month of March.
Dinner and movie screening
This event includes screening of Shirley Frimpong Manso’s movie, ‘Love or Something Like That,’ which will bring together women from different generations- those from the Beijing Platform era who are currently in decision making positions, generation from the middle level including key media personalities who have been instrumental in the propagation of women’s empowerment messages and giving a voice to the voiceless and, female student Executives from the tertiary level. Participants include the Second Lady, H.E. Mrs Matilda Amissah-Arthur, the Former First Lady, H.E. Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, Female Ambassadors, the UN Resident Coordinator and other key female personalities in the private and public sector. A total of 100 women within these categories will participate in this event.
In recognition of the fact that the enjoyment of good health is fundamental to the total empowerment of women, the choice of audience was informed by recent study on the mode of transmission of HIV. Statistics indicate that sex in stable heterosexual relationships and casual sex constitute the highest mode of HIV transmission. It is known that persons within these two groups constitute the youth and the middle class level who usually consider themselves as low risk groups and difficult to reach with HV messages.
The objective of this event therefore is to convey safe sex messages and other HIV related issues to the targeted audience. The panel discussion component will create the platform for the audience to interact with knowledgeable panel members on diverse issues on women’s empowerment including rape in relationships, disclosure of one’s HIV status, protection from HIV infection in a marital setting and other HIV issues including stigma.
The venue for the corporate women’s dinner and movie screening is Labadi Beach Hotel to be held on 9th March, 2015.
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