Australian government committed to empowerment of women in Ghana - High Commissioner

Berenice Owen-Jones, the Australian High Commissioner to Ghana has reiterated the commitment of her government to the promotion of women’s rights and gender equality in Ghana.

According to her, the Australian government will continue to support policies and programs that advance the interest and welfare of women.

Delivering a speech at the “Women in Mining Breakfast” forum held on Wednesday, 08 March 2023 on the theme “‘DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”, Berenice Owen-Jones said that the Australian government has in various ways contributed to the empowerment of women in the country.

She noted that the collaboration between her outfit and the Women in Mining Ghana is another avenue through which the Australian government is facilitating the economic empowerment of women in the mining sector.

“The Australian Government is strongly committed to being at the forefront of efforts to empower women and girls and promote gender equality. We advance gender equality across our development program, our foreign policy efforts, and economic diplomacy.

“Australia concentrates efforts in areas where there are persistent challenges to achieving gender equality, including ending violence against women and girls, advancing women’s economic empowerment, and enhancing women’s voices in decision-making, leadership, and peace-building.

“To this end we are pleased to have collaborated with Women in Mining Ghana on its inaugural mentoring program, through the provision of our Deputy High Commissioner, Nicole, as a mentor. We look forward to continuing our partnership – including through hosting a speed-mentoring session later this year as well as support for the second iteration of the program,” she said.

With today being International Women’s Day, Berenice Owen-Jones commended women across the world, particularly Ghanaian women for their tremendous contribution to the growth of the country.

She also highlighted the various opportunities the digital economy is opening to women and urge women to avail themselves of such opportunities.

She assured of the support of her office to the programs that will equip women with the necessary technological skills to thrive in the male-dominated field.

“Women work across the full spectrum of mining operations. They are engineers, geologists, academics, government officials, and senior executives. Many women are also manual laborers and play an essential role in artisanal and small-scale mining. In fact, women comprise 40 to 50 percent of Africa’s total workforce in this subsector.

”However, large-scale mining remains one of the most male-dominated industries. Although difficult to determine exact numbers, some estimates indicate that women make up approximately 5 to 15 percent of workers in large-scale ~mining~ worldwide.