Equality for women — Progress for all
Countries with more gender equality have better economic growth. Companies with more women leaders perform better. ..... The evidence is clear: equality for women means progress for all — Mr Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General.
Advertisement
The United Nations began celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8 during International Women’s Year 1975. Two years later, in December 1977, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by Member States, in accordance with their historical and national traditions.
Growing international women’s movement
The growing international women’s movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women’s conferences held in the past quarter of a century (1975 - 1995), has helped make the commemoration a rallying point to build support for women’s rights and participation in the political and economic arenas.
In 2011, the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day resulted in many celebrations around the world, and more than usual attention to International Women's Day.
This year’s theme, “Equality for women is progress for all” emphasises how gender equality, empowerment of women, women’s full enjoyment of human rights and the eradication of poverty are essential to economic and social development. It also stresses the vital role of women as agents of development.
In Ghana, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection organised the first ever Women’s summit at the State House in Accra as part of activities to mark this year’s IWD, under the national theme: “Equality For Women is Progress For All Through Total Inclusion” which is derived from the United Nations (UN) Women’s theme.
Government’s assurance
During the summit, the government gave an assurance of its commitment to resource the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) to achieve its mandate, and pledged to honour its promise of tripping the budgetary allocation for the ministry this year.
A member of the Council of State, Dr Rabiatu Ammah, who spoke on behalf of President John Dramani Mahama, reiterated the President’s statement during the State of the Nation Address recently that “wealth disparity is of great concern to this government. It is a threat to our stability as a nation and to our unity as a people”.
In Ghana, a number of women operate in the informal sector where their work is invisible and unpaid, although they are actively involved in supporting the upkeep of the home.
Most of the women operate at various levels in this sector, which include assisting their male partners/husbands who are directly involved in productive, distributive or service activities.
As a result, the woman could be left behind even where efforts are being made by governments, international bodies and voluntary agencies to improve the plight of home-based workers in the informal sector.
Thus, women in the informal sector face exploitation at various levels, they lack access to modern inputs and productive resources by virtue of their gender; men continue to control women's productive resources by commanding their unpaid labour as wives, mothers, homemakers and as workers, and women's work remains invisible.
Deadline to achieve the MDGs
With the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) around the corner, International Women’s Day is also an opportunity to review the challenges and achievements in the MDG implementation for women and girls, as the Commission on the Status of Women will be doing from 10 to 21 March 2014.
The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, appeared before Parliament recently to answer questions on long-term measures such as the establishment of small-scale manufacturing industries that would produce goods such as garments, beads, pomade and soap in areas where kayayei migrate from to employ current and would-be kayayei and her proposal is very relevant and should be given the needed consideration by all concerned.
As she rightly said, “Non-governmental organisations will be invited, encouraged and supported to provide shelter, vocational training and counselling services for the young kayayei.”