Journalists undergo training on promotion of women’s rights in Ghana

Accra, July 18, GNA - A three-day training workshop for journalists working with the electronic media, especially radio, opened in Accra on Monday to enhance their skills on using their medium of communication to promote women’s rights in Ghana.

The training, which is being organised by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), is the second phase of a project to expand public education on women’s rights and involves 24 selected journalists from 12 radio stations in the Northern, Central and Western Regions.

It is expected that participants would come up with radio programs, documentaries and positive reportage aimed at promoting the rights of women and children in the country.

Mrs Sheila Minkah-Premo, Co-Director, Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa (LAWA) Ghana, said the organisation had used various legal strategies including undertaking legal research on various issues of concern to women and made recommendations for law reforms.

“We have also drafted some laws for the consideration of law makers and made proposals for the enactment of policies to protect women’s human rights,” she said.

Mrs Minkah-Premo stated that LAWA had also used test case litigations to promote the rights of women and undertaken sensitizations on various laws in Ghana.

She said they undertook legal literacy programmes to educate people, particularly illiterate women, on their legal rights and network with like-minded organisations and coalitions to tackle women’s rights issues.

She mentioned some major accomplishments as the Domestic Violence Act passed in 2007 and noticing the inequity that woman suffered at the end of marriages, the organisation researched into and drafted proposals for legislation on the equitable distribution of marital property at divorce.

Mrs Minka-Premo said the draft had been submitted to the Attorney Generals Department and had been considered by Government in drafting the Spousal Property Rights Bill 2007 which was required to be enacted under Ghana’s Constitution.

Mrs Minkah-Premo said LAWA contributed significantly to the passage of the Human Trafficking Act passed in 2005.

She noted that in spite of the numerous legislations and international Conventions that safeguarded the rights of women in Ghana, they continued to face various forms of abuses and discriminations at various levels including cultural, educational, employment and health.

Ms Patience Opoku, Acting Director, Department of Women, Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs, said it was obvious that Ghana needed a serious and strong gender policy to totally protect the rights of women and children, who formed the vulnerable group in society.

She said currently, there were so many legislations that protected women in Ghana, but not withstanding these policies, there were numerous challenges that prevented their smooth implementation.

Ms Opoku said there were currently no proper data on gender violence in Ghana, while other challenges including the minimal commitment of prosecutors, the limited number of highly qualified legal practitioners to handle such cases and inadequate knowledge of traditional authorities on the national laws among other things made implementation and enforcement of the laws difficult.

She said there were firm indications of the importance of Affirmative Action at all levels of policy decisions to enhance the performances including areas of women in decision making, however, these had not been effectively implemented in some sectors due to lack of funding for training purposes.

Ms Opoku called on the media to intensify their education on the existing gender laws and desist from stereotyping women’s issues.