GENDER activists have challenged aspirants of the various political parties contesting in the 2008 general elections to choose women as their running mates.
This, they maintained, will be a big step towards improving the status of women.
They made the statement at the end of their annual review meeting in Accra during which the status of women for the year 2007 was reviewed.
Recounting activities to improve the status of women from the passage of the Domestic Violence Law (DV Law) through the celebration of Ghana’s Golden Jubilee to the appointment of the country’s first female judge after 50 years of independence, the activists graded the overall status of women in the country as encouraging but added that there was still more room for improvement.
Organised by the Network for Women’s Right in Ghana (NETRIGHT) in Accra, the review programme, which is the fifth to be organised by the Network, brought together women’s groups, gender activists, market women and some organisations and institutions.
Reviewing the status of women, Dr Audrey Gadzekpo said women’s contribution in the country for the past years should be firmly documented in the history of the country.
She said over the years, the contribution of women to the political struggle of the country had been relegated to the background and that she said was evidently clear in the celebration of the Ghana@50.
Describing the neglect of women in the jubilee programme as an “omission to national memory”, Dr Gadzekpo said women contributed significantly to the national struggle, especially during the Convention People’s Party (CPP) era.
She mentioned Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood, first female Chief Justice, Mrs Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations, for Rule of Law in Liberia ,Second in Command to Liberia, Ms Louise Carol Okine, first Female President of the Students’ Representative Council of the University of Ghana, Legon and Mrs Angela Naa Sarqua Okine who combined studies at the Ghana Law School with work and managed to sweep seven awards when lawyers were called to the Bar, as some women who excelled in the year under review.
She commended the government and gender activists who worked tirelessly to bring to fruition the passage of the DV Law and called for similar support for the establishment of an institutionalisation framework for its implementation.
She called on government to strengthen the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs and equip it to be able to champion the task of formulating a gender responsive budget for ministries, departments and agencies (MDA’s) as well as take up more gender responsive roles.
Touching on the flood disaster which affected the Northern Region of the country in August this year, Dr Gadzekpo said the disaster exposed the vulnerability of the people by affecting the poorest of the poor, most of whom she said were women.
She however commended efforts made by the government and various organisations to assist the flood victims.
She also raised the issue of the Accra Metropolitan Authority’s (AMA) demolition of structures belonging to some market women in and around the Tema Station in Accra, saying that the exercise was a shock to women groups and gender activists.
She said the livelihood of the women who mostly were the bread winners of their families were taken away from them, and indicated that they would monitor the AMA to ensure that they lived up to their promise of resettling the affected women.
She further touched on the issue of forced marriages in the country and cited two examples where teenagers from the northern part of the country were given into marriage and was happy that the law was dealing with the perpetrators of both crimes.
On the international scene she said women were making significant strives despite the fact that they continued to be victimised across the globe.
On the outlook for 2008, Dr Gadzekpo called on activists to be more viable to get more women to contest the 2008 presidential and general elections, and also called on political parties to field more women candidates, especially in their strongholds.
She also called on political leaders to be abreast with issues raised in the Women’s Manifesto and initiate measures to address them to help better the lot of women in the country.
The NETRIGHT, as a show of solidarity to the Tema market women, presented GH¢100 to support the women and their families and also awarded five to individuals, organisations and institutions for excelling in their quest for gender mainstreaming.
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