Gender mainstreaming needs multi-sectoral approach

THE Chief Director of the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC), Mr Gershon Kumor, has called for a multi-sectoral approach to fast track commitments made on women’s rights by the government into real positive change for women in urban and rural areas.
According to him, although the country has shown commitment in promoting the rights of women, institutional arrangements and structures to accelerate implementation of policies and provisions have been a challenge, resulting in a slower pace than expected in achieving results for gender equality.
 Mr Kumor made this known in a speech read on his behalf by the acting Director of the Department of Women (DoW), Ms Patience Opoku, at the opening of an implementing partners consultative meeting organised in Accra by the DoW as part of the country’s effort to implement the African Women Decade which spans from 2010 to 2020.
The AWD was declared at the 12th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in February 2009 on the theme “Grassroots Approach to Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment” and was launched in Ghana in June 2011.
The AWD, which has 10 thematic areas, has the objective of, among other things, creating awareness and mobilising national support and political will to implement the agreed international, regional and sub-regional decisions and gender commitments; re-invigorate commitment to accelerate the implementation of agreed global, regional and national commitments on the human rights perspective, focusing on priorities such as education, health, agriculture, women’s economic and political empowerment, gender-based violence; mobilise resources for implementing the decade and energise the African women’s movement with a focus on youth and grass-root women leaders.
Mr Kumor said since gender issues cut across all sectors and at all levels of development, there was the need for ministries, departments and agencies as well as civil society organisations, development partners and the private sector to work together so as to strategise together on how they could achieve a common goal of gender equality.
He said the realisation of women’s rights and the achievement of all the eight Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) particularly MDG three, through the effective domestication of the principles of the country’s international policy obligations, required the combined and complementary effort of different stakeholders.
He said it was in the light of harnessing efforts that the DoW, with support from the National Planning Commission (NDPC), has developed a Strategic Framework, which is based on the objectives of the African Women Decade, with the goal of “showing result for gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Ghana”.
A Policy Planning Analyst of the NDPC, Mrs Mary Mpereh, in a presentation on Ghana and the African Union’s (AU) Women Decade: Towards the Road Map, said the strategic thrust of the AWD was to identify gaps in the implementation of the CEDAW and Beijing Platform for Action, the National Gender and Children’s Policy, and harness advantages offered by ongoing national and international initiatives in order to strengthen Ghana’s quest for gender equality and women’s empowerment, as well as its reporting obligations on international and regional conventions and protocols.
She said more importantly, the AWD would be integrated into national development policies, sector and district plans, budgets and monitoring and evaluation frameworks.
The Director, Gender Unit of the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC), Mrs Dorothy Ony who gave a status report on MOWAC’s re-engineering plan and other activities, said  the country has domesticated a lot of international protocols and policies in its laws to show its commitment towards gender mainstreaming. She mentioned some of these to include the passage on the Domestic Violence Act in 2007, the passage on the Anti-Human Trafficking Act and the Children’s Act, among others.
Other activities she said include developing an Affirmative Action Bill to increase women’s participation and representation in governance and decision making positions, the development of the Ghana National Action Plan (GHANAP) 1325 on Women, Peace and Security for the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and the development of sex/gender disaggregated data collection instruments with the collaboration of Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
The Ministry, she said, was currently implementing its re-engineering  plan of action which was aimed at improving its work processes through the development of  a responsive organisational structure, improving its staff development and performance, enhance the knowledge and skills of MOWAC staff in gender mainstreaming as well as enhance MOWAC staff capacity in ICT to support Gender Management Information System (GMIS), among others.
Professor Takyiwa Manu, who co-ordinated the meeting, said gender equality  could not work in isolation, hence the need for all to support it.
She said although the country had signed different treaties and protocols, the status of women had not changed.

Some women achievers of 2012

Compiled by: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE year 2012 saw a lot of activities that were geared towards improving the lot of women across the country. Women continued to be marginalised in all areas of their development such as in politics and economics.
It is in this vain that the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC), which is the sector ministry in charge of promoting the well-being of women and children in the country, together with other ministries, civil society organisations, as well as gender groups, worked at improving the conditions of women in all sectors, including political and economic empowerment.
In the year 2012, some of the activities  undertaken were the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) holding a two-day review meeting on the implementation of the Domestic Violence Law, which was passed in 2007.
In September, the ministry also launched a technical skills training programme under its Gender Responsive Skills and Community Development Project (GRSCDP). The programme was aimed at encouraging young girls to go into male dominated areas of training.
In November, the Ministry of Health (MoH), in collaboration with the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), re-launched a programme to promote the use of female condoms among sexually active people. The meeting was the second to be held since the passage of the law which was aimed at curbing the rate of domestic violence in the country.
It was acknowledged at the review meeting that the successful implementation of the DV Act depended on the efficient collaboration of all partners including civil society and non-governmental organisations.
The Ghana Congress of Evangelism (GHACOE) Women’s Ministry, a Christian non-governmental organisation, which works at promoting the holistic development of women, chalked 35 years in the year under review. The mission of the organisation is to help women and girls at all levels of society, especially the poor and distressed, to attain holistic development.
The Association of Queens in three traditional areas in the Tain District in the Brong Ahafo Region in May called for the abolition of widowhood rites and other negative traditional practices in the area which are inimical to the development of women.
They presented a communique to the Tain District Assembly, where they bemoaned the existence of such practices in modern times.
Also, the Offinsohemaa, Nana Ama Serwaa Nyarko, marked the silver jubilee of her enstoolment as the 16th occupant of the Ameko Hema Stool of the Offinso Traditional Area. launching activities to mark the celebrations, she underscored the need to promote peace, unity and development of the area and the country as a whole.
 A woman at 100 had delivered 4,000 babies as a traditional birth attendant in the Prestea Huni Valley area in the Western Region. Madam Mary Morkey, popularly refered to as Maame Ntiwe, was said to have delivered over 4,000 out of the 7,000 inhabitants of Insu-Siding, a farming community.
At her centenary celebration, resident showered gifts on her, while beneficiaries of her birth attendant skills gave testimonies of her work.
The Koforidua Regional Hospital in 2012 was commended for establishing itself as a reputable training centre for health workers in the area of long-term family planning methods.
The commendation came from the President and Chief Executive Officer of EngenderHealth, an international not-for-profit organisation, Ms Pamela Barnes, when she visited the hospital in May.
Patients at the Tamale Teaching Hospital commended a young female doctor, Dr Lawrencia Serwah Manu, for her humility and exceptional respect and care towards patients.  the patients described the doctor born in the 1980s, as cultured, respectful, caring and God-fearing. Barely three months into her housemanship at the TTH, Dr Manu’s selfless sacrifice and passion to save human life could not go unnoticed.
The Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Centre in June launched the “Women in Leadership project” with the aim of encouraging women’s participation in politics and public life. A four-year project is to be implemented from 2012 to 2016 with funding from the Dutch Government under its Funding Leadership Opportunities for Women.
 On the international front, following the heels of Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, first female President of an African country, was President Joyce Banda of Malawi. She was sworn in in April, 2012 after the death of the sitting President of that country. She was the Vice-President of Malawi before the death of President Bingu wa Mutharika in April, 2012.
The first woman who gave birth to the world’s first test-tube baby died in June at age 64 in the United Kingdom. Ms Lesley Brown gave birth  to her daughter Louisa Brown after trying for a baby by her  husband for nine years.