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Ghana has affirmed its commitment to the  advancement of women’s empowerment and gender equality at the 60th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW60) at the UN headquarters in New York.

In view of the government’s quest to advance women’s empowerment; President John Dramani Mahama has appointed the highest number of women into public office.

“Currently, 20 per cent of Cabinet Ministers are women. We need to work harder increasing the numbers of women in Parliament which is 10.9 per cent and women in local government which is under five per cent,” Nana Oye Lithur, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, stated in New York.

Nana Oye Lithur said in pursuit of President Mahama’s gender empowerment agenda, Cabinet accordingly approved in 2015 the National Gender Policy, Social Protection Policy, Child and Family Welfare Policy and the Justice for Children Policy.

She said the government was also pushing forward for the passage of the affirmative action bill which seeks to provide for not less than 40 per cent of women’s representation in both the private and public sectors.

Nana Oye Lithur noted that Ghana has also implemented laws to protect inheritance rights of women for the past 30 years.

“The Intestate Succession Law, PNDC Law 111, was promulgated in 1985; The Intestate Succession and the Property Rights of Spouses Bills have also been introduced by Government to secure women’s property and inheritance rights and access to credit facilities.

Parliament last year approved ratification of the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption. Government is also amending the Children’s Act of 1998 to make it Hague compliant and have finalised drafting of the Adoption and Foster Care Regulations,” she added.

The Gender Minister said as part of efforts to strengthen the implementation of existing laws on sexual and gender based violence, government passed the Human Trafficking Regulations in 2015.

The Domestic Violence Regulations bill will be passed by Parliament this year; “We are implementing and enforcing the Domestic Violence Act of 2008. Our specialised Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service have 102 units throughout the country.

“To strengthen protection of extremely vulnerable populations, we have created three Gender Based Violence Response centres in markets for porter girls ‘kayayei’ and market women to provide social and other services to women and out of school adolescent girls.

“Three government shelters are currently operational. One for missing children, survivors of gender based violence and the last for trafficked persons”.

Nana Oye Lithur said Korle Bu Teaching Hospital has also set up a Child Assault Centre...“We will be supported by the UK Government this year to create three more in all our tertiary hospitals”.

Speaking on the theme: “Women’s empowerment and its link to sustainable development,” Nana Oye Lithur, called for a common course to sustain and build on progress made in gender equality and empowerment.

“I commend the United Nations for making a stand-alone goal for gender (goal 5) as part of the 17 ambitious Sustainable Development Goals, through this, we renew and strengthen our commitment towards women’s empowerment,” she said.

Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), accredited non-governmental organisations from all regions of the world are attending CSW60 session.

Nana Oye Lithur, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection is the leader of the Ghanaian delegation made up of Members of Parliament, representatives from the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Gender Technocrats.

The CSW was established in June 1946 as a mechanism to promote, report on and monitor issues relating to the political, economic, civil, social and educational rights of women.

It holds annual sessions in March to evaluate progress made in protecting and enforcing the rights of women globally.