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Some gender-based organisations have assessed the status of women in Ghana over the years, dwelling on established policies and programmes by successive governments and numerous  pledges by a number of organisations to improve on the welfare of women. Their assessement formed part of activities commemorating the International Women’s Day, which fell on March 8.

The 2016 theme for International Women’s Day is ‘Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality’, while Ghana’s adopted theme is, ‘Gender Equality by 2030: Inclusion of all for Ghana’s Sustainable Development’.

This year, individuals around the world are pledging to take concrete action to help accelerate gender parity to ensure that more women are allowed to be part of key decision-making and supporting them to exhibit their potential. 

ActionAid Ghana

Making her assessment in an interview with the Daily Graphic, Madam Henrietta Lamptey, the Regional Programme Manager of ActionAid Ghana, an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) whose primary aim is to work against poverty and injustice worldwide,  said the country had made significant progress in its efforts to address gender equality.

However, she said there was still much work to be done to improve the status of women as their voices were still not heard effectively in public and political spheres.

According to her, women’s representation in parliament was about 10 per cent translating into 29 women out of the 275 parliamentarians, indicating that the story was no different even at the district level of governance.

Madam Lamptey said civil society organisations (CSOs) and NGOs such as ActionAid over the years had engaged women to build their confidence and empower them to take up leadership roles.

“There are successes to these efforts but in a country where over 50 per cent of the population are women, it’s only beneficial that they are supported to push themselves up the leadership ladder in society,” she said. 

New SDGs

She said there was the need to  build the momentum for effective implementation of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially goal number five which relates to the attainment of gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls.

On policies and programmes to support the rights of women and bridge the gender parity gap, Madam Lamptey said although the government had done its best to initiate the Domestic Violence Act, the Legislative Instrument (LI) to support its effective implementation was still pending.

She stressed the need for Ghanaians to uphold Ghana’s sense of family and community where there was mutual understanding and support for the woman to progress and perfectly perform her role in all facets of life, be her as a mother, queen mother, corporate executive, advocate, politician, educator or in the career field, among other roles. 

Gender centre

the Executive Director of the Gender Studies and  Human Rights Documentation Centre, Mrs Dorcas Coker-Appiah, in an interview, said over the years, the status of women in Ghana had improved considerably in a number of areas but there was still room for improvement.

She said the literacy rate for women was estimated at 65.3 per cent as opposed to 78.3 for men, adding that while gender parity had been reached at the primary level, it decreased as one went up the educational ladder as women’s representation in parliament was still low, in spite of women’s active participation in the activities of various political parties, as a result of patriarchal norms that limited the woman’s role to the home and almost bars her from public life.

 Mr Coker-Appiah said in spite of the constitutional guarantees of equality and non-discrimination, and in spite of Ghana being a signatory to a number of international human instruments, women in Ghana were yet to achieve full equality in all areas of life, saying that was because in most cases, the resources needed for the implementation of the policies had not been made available and therefore, to ensure that women of Ghana achieved equality and were given the opportunity to play their  roles in national development, multiple strategies would need to be adopted, involving multiple stakeholders.

Rev (Mrs) Korankye-Ankrah

In a statement, the wife of Rev. Sam Korankye Ankrah, founder and general overseer of Royalhouse Chapel International Rev. (Mrs) Rita Korankye-Ankrah, said as the world celebrated International Women’s Day, the theme for this year’s celebration was simply a call on all, men, women and children, to rally together to promote gender balance and equality globally.

She said, “we must move beyond the call however, and take pragmatic steps to realise the vision of a society that supports and promotes the growth and advancement of women.

She added that, “In our homes, offices and churches we must open doors of opportunity to our mothers, sisters, wives and daughters to flourish and excel. Our resolve must be strong, our approach must be purposeful, our motives must be right, our foundation must be sure.”

The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), in a statement, indicated its commitment to continue to educate and empower women to access justice, and expressed the hope to take advantage of the advancement in technology to create a platform where women could report human rights violation and be able to capture gender-based violence in a more effective manner  to be able to reach out to more women who needed access to justice.