ActionAid condemns abuse and harassment of women

Tontie Kpiasi Binado, the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Regional Programme Manager of ActionAid Ghana on Tuesday condemned the abuses and harassments of women at work places.

He said the menace was against natural justice, inalienable rights of women and affront to humanity and appealed to human rights groups and other civil society organisations to increase advocacy to end it in the country.

Mr Binado gave the condemnation when he was speaking at the regional launch of Global Campaign for Ending Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the world of work at Abesim, near Sunyani, saying per the International Labour Organisation (ILO) source about 77 per cent of African women in the informal employment sector were victims of violence and harassment.

The campaign being pursued in over 45 countries on the theme “Decent Work Now for Women in the Informal Economy” aimed at pressing for appropriate legal and policy framework and their effective implementation to guarantee the right of all female workers and also end all forms violence in the world of work.

He stated that more than 818 million women globally at the age 15 have experienced sexual or physical violence at home in their communities or places of work.

Mr Binado expressed concern that women working in the informal sector such as street vendors, domestic and home-based workers received little or no employment benefits and were also disposed to violence.

He observed that violations of the rights of female workers persisted for years without much attention, noting that those in the informal sector especially failed to report such violations for fear of losing their jobs.

Mr Binado therefore stressed the need for a guaranteed decent work devoid of exploitation, abuse, sexual harassment and violence for informal sector female workers. This, he argued was because besides being victims of harassments and forms of abuse at home and work places women again bore “the huge burden” of caring for elderly relatives and children in addition to doing domestic chores.

Mr Binado thus appealed to government to fully support the adoption and ratification of an effective and impactful ILO convention on ending violence and harassment in the world of work with a strong focus on gender-based violence.

He stated the convention would contribute significantly to help young workers in defending their labour rights across sectors in all regions.

Mr Binado entreated all stakeholders to support the campaign in advocating the adoption, rectification and implementation of the ILO convention since a strong legal protection against gender- based violence was important for young workers to acquire decent work.