Chief Director of the Ministry for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr. Afisah Zakaria, has made a passionate call for a significant increase in societal investments to close the gender gap and strengthen support for institutions in relation to gender equity and empowerment of women and girls.
According to her, in addition to these investments, all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls must be eliminated.
These, she said, must include the engagement of men and boys as advocates in achieving gender equality, promoting women’s economic empowerment and supporting the attainment of sexual and reproductive health rights of women and girls.
Dr. Zakaria made the call in a keynote address she delivered on behalf of the Minister, Hon. Sara Adwoa Safo, at a National Consultative Meeting for the review and update of the National Gender Policy and its strategic implementation plan.
She stated that the National Gender Policy provides broad policy guidelines, strategic and institutional framework to operationalize government commitments for achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment targets.
The processes, she said, of reviewing and updating the policy and its implementation will enable the country to develop and own a national document that reflects the views, interests and aspirations of all, by adequately responding to gender inequalities that impede the attainment of sustainable development.
She said, “The policy framework for the development of the National Gender Policy enables all stakeholders to have common understanding of the issues and strategies to adopt in ensuring gender equality and social inclusion.”
“The objective is to provide a framework that will enable all stakeholders to have a common understanding of issues pertaining to mainstreaming gender concerns into the national development agenda in order to achieve gender equality and equity.”
Dr. Zakaria averred that the policy will also propose the way forward in addressing the pervasive discriminatory societal norms and practices that exacerbates the subservient roles of women, including gender stereotypes, as well as women’s under-representation at all levels of political leadership among others.
UNFPA Ghana Representative, Nivi Ojuolape, in a statement noted the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women are central to the mandate of UNFPA.
This, he said, is intrinsic to UNFPA’s development approach anchored in three transformative goals aiming at zeroing the unmet need (or family planning, preventable maternal deaths, and gender-based violence and harmful practices.
“Gender equality and women and girls empowerment is a fundamental human right and a powerful driver for better outcomes nationally and globally.”
“In view of the complexities and dynamics of changing gender inequalities in changing contexts, there is a growing body of evidence to support the case for renewed investments to gender equality and women’s empowerment to achieve sustainable development.”
The consultative meeting, he said, is therefore timely and critical to comprehensively review and update the Gender Policy and its strategic Implementation Plan.
He expressed hope the review of the document and its strategic framework will meet the expected goals of advocacy efforts for women’s and girls’ equal rights, combating abuses, discriminatory practices and challenging the roles and stereotypes that affect inequalities and exclusion.
The National Consultative Meeting is expected to initiate broader and more targeted discussions subsequently with selected stakeholders across the country in all the regions of Ghana for a revised National Gender Policy.
The Department of Gender of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection is leading the implementation of the review and update of the policy, which will collect inputs from stakeholders to set the pace for the National Gender Policy and its Strategic Implementation Plan for effective gender mainstreaming in Ghana.
Source: Mypublisher24.com
