ActionAid applauds criminalising ‘Sex-for-Jobs’
ActionAid Ghana has welcomed ongoing national efforts to criminalise the pervasive “sex-for-jobs” culture in the country.
According to the organisation, this was a significant and timely step toward advancing the principles of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work.
“We strongly assert that “sex-for-jobs” practices constitute a grave violation of human rights, gender equality, dignity and decent work principles.
We remain deeply concerned that this form of exploitation continues to disproportionately affect women and young job seekers, particularly those facing unemployment, poverty, social exclusion and broader economic vulnerabilities,” it said.
ActionAid, in a statement signed by its Country Director, John Nkwaw, made available to the Daily Graphic said, “young women in Ghana remain, especially at risk within these exploitative power dynamics,” saying since 2019, it has, in collaboration with its movement structures including the Young Urban Women’s Movement, generated and shared evidence documenting the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, harassment and workplace vulnerability experienced by women across sectors in the country.
The organisation ,therefore, commended the renewed commitment by President John Dramani Mahama, policymakers, civil society organisations and labour rights advocates who were calling for stronger legal, institutional and accountability frameworks to address employers and persons in positions of authority who exploit power by demanding sexual favours in exchange for employment opportunities.
ILO Convention 190
“At ActionAid Ghana, we strongly believe that the growing national momentum to criminalise “sex-for-jobs” practices is fully aligned with our long-standing advocacy for the domestication and effective implementation of ILO Convention 190, which affirms the right of every person to a world of work free from violence and harassment, including gender-based violence,” it said.
As a gender and social justice organisation, it reiterated that a core strength of ILO Convention 190 lied in its expansive and progressive definition of the “world of work,” saying this definition extended beyond formal workplaces to include recruitment processes, job-seeking environments, training spaces and other work-related interactions, all critical entry points where many victims of “sex-for-jobs” exploitation experience coercion, intimidation, abuse of power and systemic vulnerability.
It further stressed that sexual exploitation within recruitment and employment systems undermined meritocracy, fairness, dignity and equal opportunity, while entrenching structural gender inequalities and perpetuating unsafe and discriminatory work environments.
The organisation ,therefore, viewed the current national conversation as a critical policy window for the country to strengthen labour protection systems and ensure full alignment of national legal and institutional frameworks with international labour standards, particularly ILO Convention 190.
It called for a clear, comprehensive and enforceable legislation criminalising sexual exploitation in recruitment and employment processes; a safe, confidential, accessible and survivor-centred reporting and redress mechanisms; and a strong institutional accountability and zero-tolerance enforcement across both public and private sector institutions;
It further called for an increased public awareness, advocacy, and preventive education in the workplace harassment, abuse of power, and gender-based violence as well as a stronger alignment of Ghana’s labour, gender and workplace protection frameworks with the standards and principles of ILO Convention 190.
The organisation said at “ActionAid Ghana, we maintain that ending workplace sexual exploitation is both a gender justice and economic justice imperative.
Women and young people must be guaranteed equal access to employment and professional advancement based on competence, qualifications and merit — free from coercion, intimidation, discrimination and abuse of power”.
