MOWAC holds regional validation workshop on NGP

The Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) has held a day’s regional validation workshop on the draft National Gender Policy (NGP) to fine-tune it to meet current needs of society.

The workshop, held in Tamale on Monday, was sponsored by the United Nations Population Fund, World Food Programme and UN Women, and it brought together civil society organization and representatives from various ministries, departments and agencies in the region to validate the draft policy.

The draft policy has been developed from inputs collated from five regions including Northern, Ashanti and Greater Accra with the aim to stem out gender-based marginalization and discrimination perpetrated mostly against women in society.

The goal of the NGP is to achieve gender equity; thus equality mainstreamed in society so that men and women will participate fully in all spheres of national development.

Ms Patience Opoku, Director in-charge of the Department of Women at MOWAC, who opened the workshop, said government had committed itself to a number of national and international protocols to ensure gender equity, which was essential for sustainable development.

Ms Opoku said despite this, women still suffered marginalization in all sectors of society, a practice which needed to be eliminated.

She, therefore, said that when fully developed, the NGP would guide all sectors towards working to achieve gender responsiveness.

MOWAC currently does not have staff at local government levels across the country, a situation seen as a draw-back on efforts at ensuring gender mainstreaming at those levels.

Ms Opoku, however, said MOWAC was working with the Local Government Service and the Office of the Head of Civil Service to get some of their officers to promote gender issues at the local level.