Affirmative action: The South Sudan way
The South Sudan Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Michael Miyal Chol, has said for women empowerment to succeed in Ghana, there is the need for an affirmative action to be taken on the part of political leaders.
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According to him, despite being the world’s youngest nation, South Sudan has continuously shown commitment towards the empowerment of women and girls as an approach towards the development of that country.
The ambassador, who made the remark when officials of the Pamela Bridgewater Project paid a courtesy call on him at the embassy in Accra, said shortly after gaining independence from Sudan, South Sudan allocated 25 per cent of all political positions to women. He said the system was further made flexible for more women as they could still compete with men for the remaining 75 per cent slots.
The Pamela Bridgewater Project is a gender-sensitive organisation which has been championing the rights of women and girls, while providing education and means of sustainable livelihood to several young women and girls.
Women advancement
In the area of girl-child education, Mr Chol said his country had implemented educational policies which made access to education a priority for every girl-child.
He said his government has implemented these policies by also awarding several scholarships which made it easy for girls to complete their education.
In the area of women economic empowerment, he said the government of South Sudan had also advanced loans to women to enable them to engage in medium and small-scale commercial ventures as a means of making them self-sufficient.
He was of the view that as a young nation, it was imperative that the country did not pay lip service to the advancement of women but rather implement concrete strategies to tap the full potential of women for their political, social and economic development.
