Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Sarah Adwoa Safo, has called on Ghanaian women to take up the mantle as set forth by the United Nations Development Goal 5 and push for greater parity.
According to her, as much as women are increasingly closing the gender gap in Ghana, the rate is slower than expected.
She stressed it is time to come together as a nation to break the traditional barriers that have continue to inhibit the development of gender parity in Ghana.
The Minister made the call in a statement she issued yesterday 8th March, 2021 to commemorate International Women’s Day under the theme, “Choose to Challenge.”
International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women worldwide.
She averred that since the dawn of Independence there has been no denying the role Ghanaian women have played in the outcome of the nation’s freedom.
Many distinguished women, she said, took up the mantle to organise fearless activism to propel the country out of colonisation and into self governance.
She said, “Since then, our nation has slowly and steadily created avenues to empower women to take up leadership positions in the country.”
“Over the course of our 4th Republic, we have seen many illustrious women break the glass ceiling such as, Mrs. Joyce Aryee, First Female Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, First Female Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Joyce Bamford Addo and the First Female Chief Justice, Justice Georgina Theodora Wood.”
“Hon. Akosua Frema Osei Opare, first Female Chief of Staff and COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, first female Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service.”
“Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang, First Female Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast and Lucy Quist, who in 2014 became the first Ghanaian woman to lead a multinational telecommunications company.”
She stated that today women and men are legally equal and women’s rights in Ghana have made significant progress.
According to her, there has especially been an increased participation of women in politics and leadership positions in Ghana under the stewardship of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo with rise in the percentage of women in Parliament and Women in key Cabinet positions in his government.
“Today 14.54 percent of our parliamentarians are women; a steady rise from the 6th and 7th Parliaments of the Fourth Republic of Ghana,” she said.
Adwoa Safo, also MP for Dome-Kwabenya, however, stressed that multiple aspects of traditional society affect gender equality and impacting the rights of women.
She pledged to leave no stone unturned in her bid to help develop a gender-sensitive society where solidarity, opportunities and responsibilities are shared by women and men in equal measure.”
She said, “I also commit to seeing to the passage of the Affirmative Action Bill into law, which I hope will be the legacy I leave behind when my tenure is over at the Ministry.”
The Akufo-Addo-led government, she said, is committed to strengthening structures and systems that promote women to close the gender gaps in various fields in country.
She appealed to well-meaning Ghanaians to therefore challenge the obstacles that limit women from actively participating and leading in significant decision-making processes.
