‘Gender equality not fight between men and women’
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Gomoa Central, Mrs Rachel Appoh-Opoku, has stated that the process of achieving gender equality is a positive step to reducing violence against men and women.
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“We should understand that gender equality is not a fight between men and women, but rather a continuous and harmonious existence of men and women”, she said.
Mrs Appoh-Opoku, who is a former Deputy Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, made the statement when she addressed the 132nd Assembly of the Inter Parliamentary Union in Geneva, Switzerland recently.
She pointed out that gender equality simply meant promoting equity and fairness, where men and women were treated equally saying that, “where there is fairness and equity, violence is minimal”.
She said most people misconstrued gender equality to mean, women’s intention to lord it over men, explaining that gender equality was about giving equal opportunities to both men and women to have access to resources for development and urged men to see women as partners and not competitors in order to push the development agenda of the country forward.
The MP observed that in most societies, being a man or a woman was not simply a matter of different biological and physical characteristics but also the power dynamics which affirmed patriarchal roles in the domestic fields.
Equity and equality
Mrs Appoh-Opoku said for equity and equality to prevail in society, it was important to understand the progress made after the fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, saying that the adoption and implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA), resulting in the inclusion of gender in national issues by countries, had further refined and strengthened practical measures for advancing women’s status and empowerment.
Also, she said poverty reduction was key in checking violence in domestic spheres saying that with regards to economic equity, women should have equal access to resources such as land, capital and entrepreneurial skills to enable them to improve their lives.
Poverty reduction and MDG
Poverty reduction and the promotion of the MDGs, she said, was also crucial in ascertaining equity and equality which was key to the inclusion.
She added that women should have access to healthcare services to help reduce maternal mortality and child mortality adding, together with their spouses, women should have a say in decisions relating to the spacing and number of children they plan to have.