International Women’s Day: More investment needed
Grace Amonoo, Company Secretary Undeniably, Undeniably, the country has made some efforts in investing in women but grossly it is inadequate.
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Look around the “Board Rooms”; how many women do you see there?
Some are just picked as decorations to satisfy “gender balance”.
Seriously, more should be done at all levels of society to invest in and to empower women.
There are several benefits associated with investing in women.
For instance, investing in women will assist them to thrive, which helps in creating wealth and eventually propels prosperity that can be measured in financial terms.
It can also transform society’s landscape and accelerate progress towards a healthier, safer and more equal environment for everyone.
The financial sector and socio-political arena are areas of women's development that require investment.
Women should have opportunities to acquire loans to create businesses, which leads to wealth creation.
On the socio-political front, efforts should be made to bring more women to parliament, more women as regional ministers, and still more women as ministers of state.
As a country, if we look around us, we can confidently advocate that a lot has been achieved over the years vis a vis gender equality but we aren’t there yet in terms of equal pay and equal opportunities.
In my opinion, areas that need serious attention so far as gender mainstreaming is concerned are education, health, wealth creation and women’s empowerment.
The company I work for has a deliberate policy of helping the female employee. The young mothers close an hour early to enable them to pick up their young children from school.
The others have the opportunity to continue their education if they so desire.
Dr Miriam Rahinatu Iddrisu,Social Development and Gender Specialist Consultant
It is important for all to note that the celebration of IWD is not a call for relegation of men in our society but to create a reflection environment for all to address the imbalances that exist in our society
The time has come for policy makers at all levels to create equal opportunities for all irrespective of sex.
The deliberate elimination of women in most decision-making areas is unacceptable and also widening the gap that exists between men and women in all aspects of development.
According to the World Bank, Ghana is leading the advancement of gender equality in the West and Central Africa region.
Women in Ghana have made progress in human endowment in health and education at rates significantly higher than their Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) peers.
While this picture is optimistic, improvements in human endowment outcomes have not translated into improved earnings, access to assets, and decision-making. Many gaps persist especially for rural women and girls.
Women and girls in rural parts of Ghana have less access to education and health facilities than their urban counterparts.
Investing in gender equality and women is a sustainable, highly-effective way to reduce poverty.
Gender inequality keeps women and their families trapped in cycles of poverty. When women receive better education, health care, and job opportunities, they can thrive.
Additionally, investing in women saves lives, results in better health care, helps businesses, good for the economy and leads to better legal protections.
In my opinion, areas in women development and empowerment that require investment are training and equipping girls and young women with age-appropriate entrepreneurship, employability and life-skills training, as well as the tools to start and scale their own businesses.
Equipping people with the support and confidence they need to achieve their potential, in my opinion, is the game changer to reducing poverty and empowering women.
Barbara Owusu-Hemeng, Head, Client Services and Public Relations, University of Ghana Medical Centre
After many years of advocacy on gender mainstreaming, Ghana has made some strides.
Now, we have so many women in the spotlight, especially corporate Ghana and to some extent health and a few other areas.
This is very reassuring and shows that women are capable of reaching for the stars if given the opportunity.
There are still few women in politics, religion and health sector leadership which, in my opinion, require serious actions.
We also need to do more programmes that will reduce the cultural stereotypes that women have been boxed into, which subtly imply inferiority of the female race.
This has created a kind of imposter syndrome mentality in women who work so hard and are celebrated.
Statements such as 'obaa b3ma' (man woman) used to describe strong purposeful women should be discouraged.
Again we need to modify the messaging about women empowerment from that of being a competitive one against men to one emphasising the gains of including women in all facets of development.
On areas in women’s development and empowerment that require investment in the country, I think more interventions that will boost the confidence levels of women so they don’t short-change themselves for fear of being stigmatised by society are needed.
Also we need to continue to showcase the amazing contributions women are making in their respective fields of endeavour.
We have done quite well in certain areas so far as investing in women is concerned but women need more support so they can play more leadership roles in politics and health.
One of the benefits of investing in women is that it leads to more productivity across all sectors and more ethical leadership.
Gloria Ofori Boadu, former Executive Director, FIDA Ghana
It is very important the country invests in women because the country needs an educated and capable human resource irrespective of sex to be able to move forward in development.
When women are equally invested in at home, the capacity of the family is strong because then, you don’t find anyone in the family depending on the others to raise them up.
When it comes to family contributions too, both men and women are able to contribute.
The literacy level of women always has a positive impact on national income and development and the World Bank has realised that keeping women in school and have them educated helps the country and saves so much money for any individual country.
It’s important that we have both men and women who are equally educated so that when its comes to community discussion and ideas for development in the communities, boys and girls, men and women can contribute.
And that is why there are all these interventions for keeping girls in school.
Ghana has done well in investing in women so far as education is concerned, particularly in the Free Senior High School programme.
Now we have more women with secondary and technical education than before. We know that when you educate a woman, it has a positive impact on maternal and child mortality.
Unfortunately, we have not done well in other areas like women contesting for public positions. I don’t think we have improved.
The solution for this is for the Affirmative Action (AA) Bill to be looked at in comparison with other countries such as Rwanda, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, who have some form of Affirmative Action policy.
