Pg 17. Thurs. Mar. 20/08
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
THE Executive Director of the Justice and Human Rights Institute, Dr Ken Attafuah, has stated that the social role of women as good negotiators in times of conflicts has been undermined through the negative effects of some cultural and traditional practices.
He said in some communities in Ghana, the views of women are treated with contempt when issues pertaining to negotiations, conflict resolution and mediation are being discussed, just because they are female.
According to him since women suffer the most when there are conflicts such as tribal or civil wars, involving them in the negotiations for peace, most often helps to arrive at a lasting solution to such crisis.
Dr Attafuah, who made the statement at a day’s seminar to mark this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) in Accra, said that amounted to underutilising the potential of women as good negotiators.
The seminar, organised by the Department of Women which is under the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs, brought together women’s groups, some members of the international communities and non-governmental organisations who deliberated on the global theme "Investing in women and girls".
He said when women were involved in finding solutions to such problems, they often came up with compromising positions that suited both parties better.
Dr Attafuah, who was speaking on the topic ‘‘Investing in protecting the rights of women and girls in Ghana is investing in development”, said women were better created to mediate in conflicts and, therefore, should be made to take centre stage in peace-making efforts.
He said although gender equality had been identified as an essential tool for development in a nation, 64 per cent of the world’s illiterate population had been identified to be women and that, according to him, was a negative factor for the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Dr Attafuah, who is also a former Executive Secretary of the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), said issues of gender equality must be factored into the nation’s development framework to ensure that it benefited women and girls.
He advised parents not to exploit their daughters for financial gains and said that led to the betrothal of girls below 18 to older men thereby making such girls suffer mental and psychological trauma.
An International Gender Consultant, Ms Jane Kwawu, spoke on the topic, ‘Investing in eliminating inequalities faced by women and girls, a pathway to Ghana’s development. The role of the community, government, private sector and development partners’. She said the issue was not just about investing in women and girls but also providing the investment at the right time.
She said the most important aspect of investing in women and girls was making finance available to educate the girl-child, and added that this would mean making a conscious investment in girls for them to become women of substance to contribute to the development of the nation’s economy.
The Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, Hajia Alima Mahama, said investing in women and girls had a multiplying effect for a nation’s development, stressing that the government would continue to support efforts that promote both the economic and social emancipation of women and girls, through the provision of facilities such as micro-credit finance and the promotion of good health and girl-child education.
A member of the Committee of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Mrs Dorcas Coker-Appiah, who also took the participants through ‘Investing in strengthening gender management systems in Ghana for development’, said there was the need for a national gender policy document that would clearly spell out how to address gender inequalities in the country.
She said for that to happen, MOWAC should be put in a position where it would be able to co-ordinate the activities of other ministries, departments and agencies to ensure that they mainstream gender in all their activities.
• Mrs Oboshie Sai Cofie (second right), Minister for Information and National Orientation addressing participants at the Seminar. On her left is Hajia Alima Mahama, MOWAC Minister and Dr. Ken Attafuah, Executive Director of the Justice and Human Rights Institute who had earlier addresses the participants.
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