Daily Graphic, Pg 11, Thurs. Feb. 05/09
By Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
Since its establishment in 2001, the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs has spearheaded a vigorous national drive to overcome the challenges of gender inequality, the socio-economic empowerment of women, as well as work towards the resolution of the myriad of problems militating against the survival and development of children.
As part of its mandate, the ministry, which was established by the erstwhile New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration with a Cabinet status, was also tasked to ensure the protection, survival and holistic development of children and co-ordinate all policies and programmes for the advancement of gender equality and the protection of the rights of women and children in Ghana.
The ministry, under its first Minister, Mrs Gladys Asmah, initiated a lot of policies, legislation and programmes, most of which were continued by her successor, Hajia Alima Mahama.
Some of the initiatives undertaken by the ministry are the National Gender Policy, the Early Childhood Care and Development Policy, the Orphan and Vulnerable Children’s Policy and engendering the strategic policy focus of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS I & II).
The ministry also facilitated the implementation of the Affirmative Action Policy that led to the establishment of gender desk officers (GDOs) in all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), the passage of the Human Trafficking Act, 2005 (Act 694) and the Domestic Violence Act, 2007 (Act 732).
Also, through the its initiative, Cabinet gave approval for the introduction of gender budgeting and, as a result, the government, in the 2008 budget, called for a pilot programme to be designed by three ministries — the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports.
The ministry, since its inception, has also introduced an access to credit programme by which, through the National Investment Bank, the Agricultural Development Bank and the rural banks, it has disbursed micro-credit to the tune of GH¢120,000 to 120,000 women to help generate employment and reduce poverty among women, especially in the rural areas, while 90 women in small-scale businesses have also benefited from loans ranging from GH¢200 to GH¢2,500, with a total of GH¢78,350 being disbursed to such women.
Documents made available to the Daily Graphic on the operations of the ministry indicate that in the area of building the capacity of women to acquire business skills, especially in credit management, savings mobilisation, marketing, customer relations, record keeping, financial management, among others, the ministry has trained 23,187 women, most of whom are food or petty traders or unemployed, from 464 communities.
The ministry has also built the capacities of 7,940 women in agro and food processing skills and through the HIPC funds procured 88 agro-processing equipment for 43 women’s groups, with a start-up capital of GH¢2,000 for each group to purchase raw materials. This initiative is so far benefiting over 3,520 people across the country.
In collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, MOWAC, over the years, has again purchased 10 tractors for 500 farmers and has also distributed 300 food processing machines in eight regions of the country, while 88 women have benefited from eight processing equipment country-wide.
In the area of good governance, MOWAC, in 2006, launched the Women in Local Governance Fund, in collaboration with civil society organisations (CSOs) and the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana, and 1,772 women who contested the 2006 district level elections were assisted financially from money accruing from the fund.
The ministry again, in collaboration with its development partners such as the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), gave support in the form of capacity building to women political aspirants in the 2002 and 2006 district level elections.
From the foregoing, it is evident that when she is given the nod, the third minister, Madam Akua Sena Dansua, will inherit a good legacy set out by her predecessors but she will also face challenges that have bedevilled the ministry since its inception.
The ministry faces both financial and human resource constraints in its gender equality promotion, women's empowerment and the survival, protection and development of the child.
Specific constraints that the ministry faces include the socio-cultural mentality of people regarding women empowerment, behavioural and attitudinal changes within the country's cultural set-up, the lack of sex-disaggregated data to promote effective gender planning and evidence-based decision making on gender, women and children issues.
Another problem will concern budget allocation, as the ministry will have to ensure that national, sector and district budgets adequately address gender equality and women empowerment issues.
Gender advocates will also expect a lot from the minister, as they will be working closely with her on issues concerning women and children and, according to the Convenor of Netright, Dr Rose Mensah Kutin, there were many issues that they would want the new minister to tackle.
She said it was incumbent on the new minister to implement recommendations made by civil society organisations at the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in respect of women.
She said the minister designate, when given the nod, would have to ensure that more money was channelled into the issue of gender equality to make it more effective.
Mrs Kutin, who said past governments had relied on donor support which, according to her, was not substantial for the operation of the ministry, suggested that more money should be channelled into the activities of the women’s ministry to help it to achieve the objectives for which it was established.
“Women’s movement is more concerned about making sure that equality is translated into actuality,” she said.
She further suggested that the new minister should tackle the issue of gender equality separately from children’s issues, arguing that gender equality was more of a power struggle and, therefore, had nothing to do with women and their children.
Issues raised by some women’s right advocates who called on President John Evans Atta Mills at the Castle on Tuesday are also relevant and the minister designate needs to address them.
In its way forward for 2009 to 2011, MOWAC has set out a target of achieving results in five thematic areas, which are institutional capacity enhancement to promote gender equality and child development, the socio-economic empowerment of women and children, gender and sex-disaggregated data collection for research and gender policy re-engineering, rights protection of women and children through the implementation of national laws and policies and advocacy, sensitisation and public education to create public awareness of government policies and interventions.
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