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Dr Yaw Baah, the Secretary General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), Wednesday, urged Ghanaians to individually identify abuses, inequalities and discrimination against females in their localities and take urgent actions to end them.

Dr Baah, who was addressing a programme organised by the TUC, in Accra, on Wednesday, to commemorate the International Women’s Day, said the abuses could be found in homes, offices, religious organisations; and also in political, educational circles.

Under the theme: “Trade Union in the Changing World of Work: Step it Up for Gender Equity by 2024”, panelists after his address, discussed how to make the workplace conducive for women’s full, participation and productivity.

Dr Baah explained that God ‘in His infinite wisdom’, created the male and female to complement each other; but different societies in their efforts to construct men and women based on gender, had assigned roles that often discriminated against women.

He said in spite of the tremendous progress made over the years to reverse the negative situation, and to safeguard the rights of females, there still existed several forms of abuses such as the Female Genital Mutilation, child marriage, trafficking, domestic violence, abusive marriages, and job discrimination.

These challenges, he said, impeded the progress towards gender equality, and to encourage society’s recognition of the role of females in the development agenda.

Dr Baah, therefore, called for behavioral change and practices across board, saying every single effort was significant.
He commended all females for their tremendous roles in the socio-economic development, saying women paid a very active role in the independence struggle of the country.

He encouraged women to continue believing in themselves and working hard to achieve their goals in life.
Ms Winifred Amugi, from the GCB Learning Centre, in Accra, during the panel discussion said globalisation and other global developments had resulted in stressful working and very uncomfortable working environments for females, particularly, for those with young children and those in the financial sector.

She, however, encouraged these women to take life easy by making time to relax with their families otherwise the stress, which could negatively affect their health and work output.

Ms Naomi D. Otoo, a Former Vice Chairperson of the TUC, said the unfriendly working conditions were adversely affecting the upbringing of children and their health, nutritional, moral and educational status.